Fame And Change
by Andromeda-To-The-Demitria
Summary: Jason has it all: the fame, the fortune, the ego, and the perfect almost girlfriend. What happens when a one night stand ends up in pregnancy? Well, to start out with a determined girl who'll do anything to set Jason straight, and maybe, just maybe, a little lesson on love.
1. Interview Gone Wrong

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Jason Grace!"

Jason bounded out on to the stage to meet the sports talk show host. The blinding crowd cheered, and Jason flipped on his signature smile. That just made the fanatic girls in the front row scream even more, and they madly waved around their _I Love Jason_ signs, trying to catch his eye.

Jason shook hands with the talk show host, Jake Mason, and sat down on the blue couch across from him. The host didn't waste any time, and as soon as the crowd died down he began to ask questions.

"So, Jason Grace, how is your career as the star quarterback for the Tiber Eagles so far this season?" Jake Mason asked intently.

Jason chuckled. "It's great! I love football, I love the fame, and of course, the women!" The girls screamed and yelled.

Jake Mason smirked. "Mr. Grace, you've been in pro-football for five years at the end of this season. Some of your fans are curious about your love life. You seem to have short relationships, take hundreds of women on dates without making it official, and still remain single most of the time. What's going on with your love life?"

_Great_, Jason thought. Jason flashed a fake smile and answered. "Jake, listen to me. I'm committed to the game right now, there's just no time for serious relationships. If it's just a little nightly fling, sure, okay. But nothing serious for me."

"What about your long time friend, Reyna? You guys seem pretty close…even romantically close as some might suggest," Jake pressed on.

Jason shook his head. "No, there's nothing between us two other than friendship. Reyna's been my best friend since college, and a relationship could possibly ruin that. I'm sure you understand, Jake," Jason responded. Reyna was not going to be happy with that answer.

The host didn't look satisfied, but thankfully he moved on. "You have the big first game against the Carthage Elephants tomorrow. This game will determine your team's status compared to the rest for the season's start. Are you feeling confident about it?"

Jason leaned back and smirked. "Of course. The Elephants are a bunch of pushovers. How they even made a team this season is a mystery to me! It'll be an easy game," Jason said cockily.

"Very positive attitude you have there, Jason! How about your teammates? Rumor has it that they say you are controlling and an attention hog. How do you feel about that?" Jake asked interestedly. From behind the curtain, the teleprompter signaled that they had thirty seconds left.

"Well, whatever they say is obviously out of jealousy. I mean, not everybody is blessed with talent, charm, and good looks like I am. They just need to get their head out of my business and into the game, that's all I have to say!" Jason stated firmly.

Jake nodded. "Well thanks for giving us your outlook on things, Jason. Unfortunately, we're out of time," the host said. He got up from his chair, and Jason followed his lead. Jake Mason grabbed his arm and held it up champion style.

"Let's hear it for Jaaa-son Grace!" Jake yelled to the crowd.

The crowd up people screamed and flashed their cameras. Some even threw posters and personal items. Jason just smiled and waved as he walked of the stage.

The backstage people immediately took him into their hands, removing the microphone and getting him back to normal. In no time, Jason was heading out the door surrounded by his bodyguards and hopping into the back of his personal limo, the paparazzi screaming and flashing their cameras.

Jason stretched out across the black leather seats and checked his phone. Five new messages. Jason read the first four, and they were basically the same; congratulating him on his excellent interview with Jake Mason. The last however, was from Reyna.

**We need to talk. Tonight. At the party. **

Jason winced. Reyna was definitely upset with him, no doubt about it. Jason knew Reyna had had a crush on him since freshman year in college, but he didn't feel like he was ready for a relationship with her. Sure, Reyna was pretty, confident, beautiful, and everything else, and everyone expected them to start dating, but Jason didn't want to. He didn't feel the same way.

Maybe he wasn't thinking of her in that way, that was what was wrong. No, that couldn't be it. Jason liked being single. Free to flirt with who he wanted, no worries about doing something wrong. And if he did, just move on to the next girl. There were plenty of them to go around, Jason was like a girl magnet.

Jason sighed in content. He couldn't wait for the party tonight. He was throwing one at his house in a pre-game celebration, and it was going to be epic. Jason had ordered the best alcohol, the best caterers, and the best guests. It would be perfect to get into the spirit of things. His coach might not approve, but Jason honestly didn't care as long as he still got paid.

Jason glanced out the windows at the big city. Tiber. It was his home city, and one of the most populated in the country. Skyscrapers claimed the skies, and cars and people rapidly moved about the city. This city lived for Jason.

The limo came to a stop in front of his apartment building, Bunker 9. The sleek, rich apartments climbed sky-high, with one apartment being up to three floors big. The richest people in Tiber lived here, Jason claiming the top two floors. The doorman and owner, Leo Valdez waited at the sparkling doors for Jason to get out.

The doors of the limo opened, and Jason grabbed his phone and strutted out confidently, making some girls on the sidewalk giggle. Jason winked at them and met Leo at the door.

"Hey, look! It's the famous Eagle's quarterback, Jason Grace! How did the interview go, man?" Leo asked as he opened the door.

Jason smirked. "Awesome, as usual. What's wrong with you, anyway?"

Leo closed the door and looked at Jason oddly. "What do you mean?"

"You own the richest apartment building in Tiber, you're probably one of the richest people, and yet you still are a doorman! Why don't you just hire one and do something else? And you even fix the problems here on your own without hiring a repair man!" Jason said in amazement.

Leo lightly laughed. "Again, no thanks, I'll have to pass on that one. I've seen how fame and money get to a person's head and change them. Being the doorman kinda keeps me from that," Leo explained. "And I like fixing things! If something goes wrong, I can blame myself, and I know exactly what went wrong!" he added defensively.

Jason chuckled and walked across the ivory floors and into the elevator. "Whatever, man!"

Jason typed in 52 in the elevator buttons. The doors closed, and the elevator went upward. Nobody came on, most of the residents were at work, shopping, or doing something else.

He was left to his thoughts as the elevator slowly climbed towards his apartment. Jason didn't understand Leo. Why would he have all that money and not do anything about it? Jason had asked him several times about this, and Leo always replied with the same things. Sure, Leo had a bad time with girls, and maybe just people in general. But anybody's willing to hang out with someone rich! Not very many people even knew Leo owned Bunker 9.

The elevator dinged pleasantly and opened, and Jason walked out into his small hallway. Jason opened his leather wallet and pulled out his security card and slid it through the slot on the silver door handle. The light turned green. Jason slid it through his mailbox, grabbed the mail, and strutted into his apartment.

Jason's apartment was very modern, with white walls, and silver and black furniture. It was very clean other than some random things thrown here and there that the maids hadn't cleaned up yet. The glassy white floor sparkled in the afternoon sunlight streaming in from the large windows. The floor he was currently on had the living room, kitchen, dining room, and guest room with a small bathroom. The second floor was completely dedicated to his bedroom, weights room, and bathroom.

Jason walked to the kitchen grabbed a Pepsi out of the refrigerator, and plopped down on the couch, mail in hand. He opened the Pepsi, took a drink, and set it on the black coffee table while kicking off his shoes. After he was comfortable, Jason leaned back at looked at his mail.

The first three were bills. No problem, he had plenty of money. The next two were sports magazines. He flipped through them quickly, found a few articles about himself, read them, and tossed them over his shoulder with the bills. The last one was a celebrity magazine.

On the front cover was a beautiful girl with choppy chocolate colored hair and a boy with dark brown hair kissing happily on a beach. Through the picture was a giant red X, with the headline: _**Piper McLean and Dylan Miller Break It Off- Read To Find Out Why. Pg 62.**_

Curious, Jason flipped to the page and read the article, which was surrounded by pictures of their relationship together.

_Last Saturday night, the famous actor Tristan McLean's daughter, Piper, and pop sensation Dylan Miller went on what was expected to be a great date. They arrived peacefully at a local restaurant, and seemed to be having a lovely time together, until McLean pulled something out of her purse (Later identified as a picture) and showed Miller. _

_They began to argue loudly, disrupting the who restaurant," a source shared with us. "Piper was apparently accusing Dylan of cheating, and she had pictures to prove it!"_

_Though no one knows exactly what the picture was of, one thing is for sure: Dylan cheated on McLean, and she had found out. What's going on with our beloved ex-couple now?_

_Well, Dylan Miller was seen at his recording studio shortly after the break. He seemed unaffected and acted like nothing had happened. Was Miller with Piper McLean for the fame boost? The world will never know. _

_As for Miss Piper McLean, she has not been spotted since that night. Is the daughter of Tristan McLean too heartbroken to show herself? From past pictures, she seemed really committed to her relationship with Miller, so is it the end for her? We can only hope not. _

_Rumor has it that Tristan McLean will be attending the pre-game party at none other than the famous Jason Grace's house. In attempt to find more information on this tragic breakup, our team will be at the scene to hopefully get a quote. Maybe luck will be on our side, and we'll get a glimpse of Jason Grace's mysterious love life as well! _

_Until next time, Lacy Chandler_

Jason snorted. Of course they had to add something in about him and his relationships. And Jason would have to be sure and call in for extra security, he didn't want the annoying paparazzi ruining his party just because one of his guest's daughters had a _tragic_ breakup. Who cares?

Party. What time was it? Jason pulled out his phone. 7:10 already? Jason jumped up, and the magazine fell to the ground. He had less than an hour to get the caterers here and get ready!

Jason blamed it on the article.

* * *

**Sooo I'm trying something new. I know not everything in here can possibly be true, so let's just pretend, okay? (:**

**And I totally made up the names of the teams and cities. It didn't feel right using real ones, I don't know.**

**Thanks for future reviews!**


	2. A Stupid Party

The party was great. There were tons of beautiful women, good drinks, and of course, plenty of attention on Jason.

Jason went from group to group, flirting with the girls, talking sports with the guys. Servers continuously offered drinks and snacks, but Jason refused most. He needed to keep himself healthy for the game tomorrow.

Paparazzi had of course shown up, but Tristan McLean hadn't as expected from what Jason could tell. Jason had in fact called for extra security, just in case though. He didn't think poor Leo could take all of them.

Jason pushed through the crowd of people as he seen Reyna walk through his front door. She was in a black cocktail dress, with her dark hair unusually flowing freely down her back.

"Reyna!" Jason yelled over the music of the party. She caught sight of him, and at first her face brightened, but then it darkened again. She ran through the crowd and stood in front of him.

"Hello, Jason." Reyna said stiffly.

Jason smiled. "So, what do you think of the party?" he gestured around him to the people.

"Jason, we need-" Reyna started, but a few girls came in and cut her off.

"Hey, Jason Grace! You were so hot on your interview today! We should totally go out tomorrow night after the team party!" A vivid redhead said enthusiastically. Jason vaguely recognized her, he was pretty sure she was an actress. Britta, was that her name?

Jason smiled flirtatiously. "Yeah, maybe. We'll see how it goes, okay, baby?"

Britta giggled and waved as she walked away with her group of blushing friends. Reyna glared at him. "We need to go somewhere privet and talk. Now." she demanded.

"Ohhkay. What's the matter? Let's go to second floor, the party isn't there," Jason suggested hesitantly.

Reyna roughly grabbed his shoulder and they went up the black carpeted staircase and opened the door. They were now in Jason's bedroom, which was styled to match the house with the same modern theme. The lights were off with only the glow of the city the light the room, giving it an ominous gloom.

Reyna pushed him. "All we've been through in the past ten years, does that mean nothing to you?" Reyna said in a deadly whisper.

"Look, Reyna. I don't know what wrong with you, so please tell me," Jason said calmly.

"Let's recount your interview today." Reyna said angrily. "You said we were just friends. Just _friends_. Do you know how much that hurts?"

"It was the truth."

Reyna threw her hands up in the air. She was irritated. "Damn it, Jason, I thought we had something more! When you looked at me, I thought that I was the different one, the one you truly _did_ care about. Not one of your one night stands!" Reyna was starting to yell now. "And I know we've never even kissed, but I thought things were different!"

Jason stared blankly at her. "But you never seemed to care about all those other women. You never showed any jealously or anything."

Reyna slapped him. "I'll just go now, if that's how you really feel," Reyna said quietly. She put her hand on the door handle.

"Reyna, wait. I can fix this!" Jason stepped towards her.

She opened the door. "Find out how to treat a woman right, and actually think of someone other than yourself for once, then maybe we'll try again. Fame has ruined you. You're not the man I used to know," Reyna said bitterly. Then she walked out the door and slammed it, leaving Jason alone in the dark room.

* * *

_Stupid party_, Piper McLean thought to herself as she stood leaning against the guardrail on the roof of Jason Grace's penthouse.

Piper hadn't wanted to come, but her father had made her take his invitation and as he put it, actually do something exciting. Tristan McLean had forced her to dress up and come to the party, and told her to stop moping about her ex-boyfriend. Piper hated being here. As if she cared about Jason Grace's cocky stories about what an amazing person he was! She couldn't even stand being under the same roof as him.

The thing was, Piper really had loved Dylan, her ex, with all her heart. She had thought they were meant to be, the celebrity "it" couple. Then she had found him cheating on her at a party the first time. Piper had blamed it on the alcohol, and let it go.

The second time however, she didn't. Dylan was perfectly sober in the picture, and from the looks of it had just been on a date with the girl. Piper had gotten hold of the picture when one of her friends happened to work at the restaurant they had chosen for their date.

Piper had been furious that he would do such a thing. Dylan had even admitted it to her face after she had confronted him on their date. Media had been all over the story, and it was all Piper could do to not punch every single reporter in the face.

Piper's phone vibrated in her jean pocket. She pulled it out and answered it without looking at who called. "Hello?"

"Hey, Pipes. So, I was thinking, and we should totally get back together," Dylan's deep voice filled the phone.

Piper filled with anger, and she felt like throwing her phone down to the thriving night city below. "Dylan, I don't think that would be a good idea. I mean, are you kidding me? Get back together after you cheated on me not once, but twice?" Piper snapped.

"Baby, I'm sorry. You know that. I still love you, and you still love me, you know it too." Dylan said sweetly.

"Guess what? I'm over you. I should've broken it off with you the first time you cheated, but I was too in love. And now I see it. You're a jerk, and you don't care about anybody but yourself." Piper hit the end button furiously and hung up on him.

The nerve of him to call her after what he did was unbelievable. She wondered what had even made him call her in the first place. Why did Piper have so much bad luck with love? She couldn't understand, and was about to give up on it.

"Hey, you're Piper McLean," a man's voice said from behind her.

Piper jumped, startled. She hadn't heard the door open. "Thank you, I think I know my own name," she said sarcastically. Piper studied the man in the glow of the city.

He was tall, muscular, and he had blonde hair. He was wearing nice jeans and a tight white shirt. Piper recognized him and rolled her eyes. "And you're Jason Grace, I suppose. I was just talking with my ex about guys who only think about themselves, what a coincidence!"

Jason Grace stood by her and looked at the city. He didn't seem to have the usual upbeat cockiness in his attitude, Piper noticed.

"It seems like I'm not the only one having problems with love lately," Jason stated. "I seen the story in a magazine…and I heard your phone call," he added.

Piper put her phone back in her pocket and sighed. "Don't say anything about that to the paparazzi, okay? What possible problems with love could the famous quarterback Jason Grace have? I thought he had plenty of women?" Piper asked sarcastically.

Jason put his head down. "Reyna. She's been my best friend since college, but I never really gave thoughts about her as my girlfriend. Now she hates me because of what I said on that interview today."

Piper nodded, amused. "You completely and totally friend-zoned her. That probably broke her heart." Piper pointed out. She knew she wasn't being very nice, but she'd seen the way Jason acted. He was a self-centered, overconfident, asshole.

"She said I'd changed, and she didn't know me anymore," Jason said dejectedly, "It hurt my feelings."

"Maybe try thinking about how she feels, not you."

Jason stayed silent and stared at the city below. "Aren't you missing your party?" Piper asked.

"Yeah. But it's no fun now. How'd you get up here anyway?" Jason returned, looking at Piper curiously.

Piper laughed. "Went through your house until I found the right doors. No way in hell I was staying in there."

"I invited your dad though, not you." Jason said.

"He made me come. He said it would 'help me get over my break-up'" Piper said, using hand quotes. "Trust me, I didn't want to come. I'd be perfectly happy moping at home about how love sucks rather than up here."

The cold January breeze drifted, making Piper shiver. "Well I'm cold, and by the looks of it, you are too, so let's go back inside," Jason suggested.

At first Piper was going to refuse, but then she shivered again, and she realized just how cold she was. "Okay, fine," Piper said reluctantly.

Jason walked over to the door and opened it, not even bothering to hold it for Piper. Piper scowled, and caught the edge at the last moment. She followed him down the metal stairs and in through another door. J

Jason flipped a light switch, lighting up what seemed to be a weight's room. Benches, bars, and weights littered the room, the walls literally lined in mirrors, probably so Jason could stare and admire himself while he worked out.

"I'm not staying in here. I can live without having the mental image of you staring at yourself while you lift." Piper stated.

Jason shrugged and fixed his hair in one of the mirrors. "Then go to my bedroom. Not my problem."

Piper gave him a glare and walked out the nearest hall. She passed what looked to be his bathroom (or maybe a personal swimming pool), and finally arrived in a bedroom with a giant bed in it. Piper switched on the lights.

A trophy case surrounded a colossal T.V. and the opposite side of the room across from the bed. The walls were sleekly painted black, with white carpet. Silver and red curtains covered half of the window, and feeling suspicious of the paparazzi, Piper closed them.

Piper could hear the party downstairs, but she had no desire to join them. She decided to study the trophy case with nothing else to do. Jason had a lot of pictures of himself in there, with awards dating back to elementary school. Surprisingly, he even had a trophy for winning a science fair with a display on electricity.

Piper's phone vibrated again just as Jason walked into the room. Piper read the name, and touched accept.

"No, we are not getting back together, so stop calling me, god damn it!" Piper yelled into the phone before Dylan could talk. She hit the end button and faced Jason. "Sorry about that. He won't leave me alone. I hate love."

As soon as she said it, Piper could feel the tears building in her eyes. No, she couldn't break down right in front of heartless Jason Grace! But the tears didn't listen. Piper broke out sobbing, the pressure of staying strong taking its toll once more.

Jason sighed awkwardly. "I do too."

Then, unexpectedly, he pushed her up against the glass case, and they began to kiss furiously. Piper couldn't believe herself. What was she doing? But she didn't care. She was done with love, so what could Jason Grace do to her?

Before she knew it, they were gradually moving towards the bed, still kissing. They were rapidly fumbling with each other's clothes, taking them off while still making out.

Jason gently pushed her onto the bed, and the rest of the night happened in a blur.

* * *

**Thanks for Reviews, favorites, and follows! And yes, I would love to update more, but I'm not _that_ amazing!**

**Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan, therefore, I don't own anything.**


	3. The Little Surprise

**2 Months Later**

Jason was in a good mood. The Eagles were head of their league, with only playoffs left for the season until the championship game. If possible, Jason was even more famous than before.

He drove his sports car down the busy street, occasionally checking his phone subconsciously. A few messages, but nothing worth reading while driving. Jason knew what he was looking for, but still it never came.

Reyna. She hadn't texted, called, or answered to Jason at all since that night two months ago. Jason wanted to say sorry, and that they could try again, but he knew she didn't want anything to do with him at the moment. He missed his best friend, and if she was willing to try a relationship, Jason would do it. He needed Reyna's attention, because she was always there for him, no matter the situation.

Thinking of that night always brought back memories of that other girl, Piper McLean. She had been so straightforward and harsh with her words, it had really made an imprint in Jason's mind. She wasn't afraid to tell him his faults (like he had any anyways) and her words cut through him like ice. But strangely enough, Jason wanted more, which he didn't understand.

Jason remembered her sweet smell, and the way her kaleidoscopic eyes tried to hide the pain she had suffered from love. She was different from any other celebrity child he'd ever met, and Jason wished he had had more time to talk to her.

But he'd woken up late for the game, and left her laying in his bed the next morning. By the time he was back home, she was long gone. She had, however, left a note on his pillow warning him. _Tell no one_, the note had read.

Jason still didn't understand, but he had followed the note's instructions. Normally, women bragged about the fact that they had slept with him! Another reason Piper was different from the others.

Sighing, he checked his phone once more and pulled up to the curb beside Bunker 9. Jason stuck his phone in his pocket, sudden tiredness overcoming him from the enduring football practice this morning. A service man came up and drove his car away, and Jason sleepily walked past Leo without even a greeting.

"No hello? Alright. I'll just stand here and continue checking out all the hot chicks that go by," Leo said.

Jason ignored him and punched in 52 on the elevator keys. The metal doors closed, and the lift pulled the elevator towards the top. They opened again, and Jason went through his daily ritual of sliding the door key and checking the mail.

When he opened the door, he could immediately sense something was wrong in his penthouse. He smelt popcorn, and vaguely heard someone laughing at a voice on the T.V. Was that his voice?

Wide awake, Jason followed the popcorn smell to his living room, his heart beating rapidly against his chest. He rounded the corner, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Piper McLean was sitting on his couch with a large bowl of popcorn, watching a recent sports interview that Jason was in. Every time he spoke, Piper would laugh at throw Popcorn at the screen.

"What are you doing in my house?" Jason demanded.

Piper turned around and swallowed her mouthful of popcorn. "Finally! It took you forever to get done with practice! I thought you were never coming!" Piper exclaimed. Then she turned around again and continued throwing popcorn and laughing.

Jason stood in front of the T.V., but how much good that did with one that size he didn't know. "How did you get in?"

Piper shrugged. "Your doorman." she threw a piece of popcorn, which hit Jason in the chest.

"Why would Leo let _you_ in?" Jason asked over his own voice.

Piper smiled sweetly and turned the T.V. off. "He's an ex-boyfriend of mine," she said casually.

Jason crossed his arms. "Who haven't you dated that's famous?"

"You. But don't take that as an offer." Piper threw another piece of popcorn, even though the interview was no longer on. The popcorn hit Jason in the chest.

"Will you stop that?" Jason said sharply. "Why are you here again?"

"About that," Piper shoved a mouthful of popcorn in her mouth, laid the bowl on the coffee table, and stood up. She swallowed and walked towards him, wringing her hands. "It doesn't really bother me, but you might have a problem with it…"

Jason unfolded his arms and put his hands on his head. "Will you just say it already? Some of us have been at practice all day, and are tired," Jason snapped.

"Tell me about it!" Piper shot back. "I'm pregnant!"

Jason looked at her blankly for a moment, then actually processed her words. "What!?" he exclaimed as he stumbled back.

Piper put her hands on her hips. "Pregnant. I'm pregnant. Two months, in fact. But don't get too worked up about it, pretty boy. It won't affect you. I just thought you'd like to know that you now have offspring." Piper said informatively.

"Bu-but we used protection!" Jason stuttered. "It can't be true!" he insisted. Jason crossed his arms again.

Piper waved a finger. "It's true alright. And protection isn't one hundred percent safe. The only way to prevent pregnancy is to not have sex. Did you never take a Parenting 101 class in high school?"

"We called it Sex-Ed. And I still don't believe you. I-it must be a trick or something, this'll ruin my whole life!" Jason said.

"Well, okay, I already told you it wouldn't affect you. I have the ultrasounds in my purse. Give me a second," Piper walked over to his couch and started to search through a small leather purse. "Ah-ha! Here they are! The baby is so cute!" she said as she walked back over and handed the pictures to Jason.

Jason studied them, not wanting to believe what he was seeing in the black and white pictures. "It looks like a deformed lizard. Definitely not my child," he said.

Piper forcefully grabbed the pictures out of his hands. "Oh, stop it. It's only two months along, of course it won't look human! And I know for a fact that it's yours, so don't try denying it. You were the first person I'd slept with in five months."

"How long have you known you were pregnant?"

Piper shrugged and reached for more popcorn as she put the ultrasounds in her purse again. "About a month. Why?"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why didn't you get an abortion or something? What now? I can't take care of a baby!" Jason complained as he ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't want a child. This wasn't fair.

Piper licked her fingers. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to, that's why. And abort my baby? Are you serious? And if you'd listen, I told you that this wouldn't affect you in any way." Piper said firmly.

"Okay. How? I'd like to see you keep this from the media. They'll be all over the fact that Jason Grace got Piper McLean pregnant!" Jason said exasperatedly.

Piper crossed her own arms, mirroring Jason. "Easy. I'll take care of the kid all by myself. And the press won't ever know who the father is, I won't tell them. It's my image then, not yours. But there's a catch," she said.

"What?" Jason said sharply. He stared into her kaleidoscopic eyes intently.

"I'm going to make sure this never happens again with a different girl. You, Jason Grace, are going to take lessons from me on how to be a better person."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

Piper walked back over to the couch and picked up her purse. "Meaning I'm going to guide you on your relationship with Reyna and others. You're not going to be a self-centered, egotistic-"

"Okay! Fine." Jason said, cutting her off. This sounded really stupid and pointless to him, but if she wasn't going to tell anyone that the baby was his, he was totally okay with it. And she said she would help with his Reyna situation.

Piper smiled. "Thank you, that's all I wanted. Not so hard, is it?" she reached in her purse and handed him the ultrasounds again.

"I don't-"

"Take them. I have copies at home. See you tomorrow!" Piper said as she quickly made her way to the door.

Jason ran after her. "Wait!" he yelled. But she had already shut his door and left.

Sighing, Jason grabbed a bag of chips and slammed onto the couch roughly, crunching pieces of random popcorn as he did. Screw staying junk food free for the game Sunday. He was emotionally changed, so it was a good excuse. Besides, what Coach didn't know didn't hurt him.

He realized that he still had the ultrasounds in his hand when he tried to open the bag. Jason studied them, still not believing that ugly thing could be part of him. He was way better looking than it. He would blame it on Piper, but she was beautiful too.

Finding out that he was a father was really bothering him. Even though Piper had said she wouldn't tell anyone, Jason was afraid. He had a reputation to uphold! If the world found out that her baby was his, things would definitely change.

Jason wondered what was going through Piper's head. She had seemed so calm and totally okay with the whole situation. Course, she'd probably been a mess when she had found out. The press was going to nail her once they found out she was pregnant! Jason was glad she was taking all the responsibility.

His thoughts strayed to Piper's attractiveness. There was no denying it, Tristan McLean's daughter was straight up gorgeous. Even if it looked like she tried to downplay it, by wearing regular clothes, and cutting her hair like a kindergartener with scissors, it didn't work. She had an unforgettable way of speaking, and Jason could understand why she had so many guys falling at her feet. And her ever-changing eyes, don't get Jason started on them…

Jason pushed Piper out of his mind. She was strictly a business partner, helping him with whatever she thought needed help. He needed to think about Reyna, and fixing their relationship.

Reyna, who was so different from Piper. Reyna was fierce, confident, and strong-willed. His best friend from college. Jason wondered why he'd never thought of her romantically. He had with every other girl, so why not Reyna?

Jumbled in his thoughts, Jason grabbed the remote and turned on the T.V. The interview was still on, paused on the spot where Piper had stopped watching. He was reminded again of why she had come.

Jason groaned. He would never be able to escape from Piper, no matter how hard he tried. Too many memories, and he didn't even really know her yet.

* * *

**Oh my god I am sooooo soooo sorry about the late update! Yesterday was complicated for me, I had so many things on my mind and COMPLETELY forgot to update!**

**Anyways, Thanks for everything!**


	4. Lesson Number One

Piper stepped out of her car and onto the busy street in front of Jason's penthouse building. She was early, but Leo would give her Jason's key again.

Though Piper had done her best yesterday to look calm and okay with the baby and everything, in reality she was freaking out. When she had found out she was pregnant a month ago, she spent at least a week crying and thinking the world was ending. Her dad of course thought it was just about Dylan, and had tried forcing her to go to an amusement park. Then Piper had been forced to explain her situation, and why therefore she couldn't get on any of the rides.

Surprisingly, her dad hadn't been very upset. Piper was, after all, an adult. She could take care of herself just fine, as her father had said. He'd even tried blaming himself for the pregnancy, saying that if he hadn't forced her to go to the party while emotionally unbalanced that this wouldn't have happened. Piper didn't let him though. She would take full responsibility for her actions.

Which is how Piper had come up with her plan for Jason Grace. She had been painting one of the spare rooms in her penthouse her dad had bought her a few years ago with her best friend Annabeth for the baby when she had been thinking of how to tell Jason. She had automatically assumed that he wouldn't want anything to do with it. Piper could handle this response. She had support to help with that, and she was experienced with dealing with the paparazzi. Other girls didn't have that most likely.

So Piper had decided to prevent this from ever happening again. She would help him fix his relationship with his half-girlfriend, Reyna. She would show him how much fame had changed him. She would help him realize the way. No girl would ever end up like Piper again, she wouldn't allow it.

Consequently, Piper was now crossing the street to Bunker 9. Leo was waiting at the door as usual in his uniform, but he appeared to be fixing the door hinge or something. He had his tool belt strapped over his uniform with grease smeared across his face.

"Hey, Leo!" Piper said cheerfully as she approached the door. Though they had once dated for a few weeks, they had come to terms that they were better off as friends. Ever since then, Piper and Leo had remained close friends, with nothing romantic whatsoever between them.

Leo looked up from his project. "Hey, Piper. I suppose you want Jason's door key again? He's not back from practice yet," Leo said.

"Yes, that would be nice. Thanks, Leo," Piper said. Leo opened the creaky door and walked over to the desk. The secretary gave him an odd look, but then she returned to typing on her computer. Leo shuffled through his keys.

"I'm pretty sure this is the right one. I really need to label these so I don't have to go through this every single day. Jason might as well give you a door key," Leo said as he put a key into the lock of a filing cabinet. It didn't open.

"Damnit. Must be this one," Leo tried another key, and this time it worked. He flipped through the various "G" files and finally pulled the one out that said "Grace, Jason". Leo opened it up and handed the room key to Piper.

Piper grabbed it. "Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me," Piper said.

Leo put the file back and slammed the drawer closed. "So, um, why do you need into his penthouse anyways? I'm surprised Mr. Big Ego hasn't banned you from Bunker 9 after yesterday."

Piper glanced nervously at the brunette secretary. She wanted to tell Leo, but she didn't want anyone else to know. "Can we go somewhere we won't be overheard?" she asked.

Leo nodded. "Sure! Right through that door over there, with the sign."

Piper looked over to where he was pointing, and saw a metallic door with a bright orange construction sign that read: Only Awesome People Enter Here; Meaning Only Leo Valdez.

Piper laughed. "Nice sign there, Leo," she complimented.

"Thanks! Step into my office, Miss McLean," Leo said formally as they walked over to the silver metallic door. Leo held his hand up against the door above the handle, and a fiery image glowed around it through the metal.

"What was that?" Piper asked curiously as they walked in. She knew Leo was always inventing new things and upgrading them by ten. It was something she had quickly learned about him.

Leo looked back. "I don't know. One day I just had this great idea to make a hand print security pad that outlined your hand in a fiery image. Pretty cool, right?"

"Very," Piper said. She sat down on a the chair in front of Leo's desk after she moved the scattered papers off of it. His office was covered in papers displaying random ideas and tools. A large cupboard behind his desk was labeled _Important Stuff_, so Piper assumed it was dedicated to bills and paperwork. There were several signs with crossed out Windex bottles on them. For some reason, Leo hated Windex. Piper made a mental note to ask him sometime.

Leo pushed aside a few crumpled up papers and crossed his hands professionally. "So, what seems to be the problem here, ma'am?"

"Leo, this is serious. And I don't want you freaking out or anything, okay?" Piper warned. She didn't want Leo to go beat up Jason. She had enough problems on her hands, but this was something Leo did need to know. That's just what friends do.

"Okay. Pinky promise I won't freak out!" Leo said anxiously. Piper could tell he was on the edge of his seat waiting. He started to nervously mess with some bolts on his desktop.

Piper gripped the arm rests of her chair. "Leo, I'm pregnant with Jason Grace's child."

"Woah, woah, woah. What?"

Piper sighed. "Pregnant. Going to have a baby. Jason's baby!"

Leo stared at Piper with his mouth open. "You and Jason Grace had…" then Leo burst out laughing and hitting the desk.

"Leo! You are so immature sometimes!" Piper could feel the heat rising to her cheeks, and she put her face into her hands.

Leo continued to laugh, but he managed out a few words. "Never…would…imagine…so not-"

Piper put her face up again. "You are the worst friend ever! You're supposed to support me, not laugh at me!" Piper scolded, but it didn't have much effect as she was starting to join him in laughter.

It was true though. A year ago, if someone had told her that she was going to break up with her boyfriend and be so depressed about it that she would sleep with Jason Grace and get pregnant, Piper would've punched that person in the face then directed them to the nearest hospital. Never, in all her life, would she have guessed anything like this would ever happen to her. Piper never foresaw _anything_ like this in her future. It was just unimaginable.

But nevertheless, laughing about her situation did help. It was just one of the magical things about Leo, he tended to lighten things up with jokes and laughter. Piper appreciated it, she really did.

Suddenly, a pounding headache hit Piper, and she rested back on her arms, completely exhausted. Piper groaned, and made to leave Leo's office.

Leo noticed and stopped laughing. He stood up from his chair. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a side-effect of pregnancy. I'm going to go up now and lay down," Piper said weakly. She reached for the door handle, but Leo got there first and opened it.

"Don't take away my job now, missy. I _am_ the doorman!" Leo said nervously.

Piper gave him a small smile, waved, and headed straight for the elevator. She didn't want Leo to feel any more awkward around people in serious situations than he had to, so she left as quickly as possible.

Piper pressed 52 and leaned against the metal wall as the elevator jolted. Her headache was throbbing against her skull so bad it was hard for her to think straight. This happened at least once a day, and Piper would think she'd be used to it by now. Don't get her wrong, she knew she would love the baby and everything, no matter how much pain she had to go through, but pregnancy really sucked.

The elevator stopped, and Piper shakily walked out. Dizziness filled her head, and she had trouble sliding the door key in. Eventually, the door clicked and Piper stumbled her way in.

Piper didn't know if Jason had a guest room or not, so she went up the stairs and into his room to lay on his bed. She wasn't going to lay on the couch because it was barely comfortable to sit on. His whole house had an overall cold feel to it to Piper. It wasn't friendly at all. Piper was pretty sure that just added to Jason's conceitedness. Every picture in this penthouse was of him!

Sighing, Piper pushed open the door at the top of the stairs. Avoiding looking at the trophy case, Piper collapsed on his giant bed. She suddenly felt cold, so she pushed back the blankets and turned on the bed heater. She laid there shivering until the bed finally heated up.

With her temperature back to normal and her headache slowly receding, Piper could think again. She felt like taking a nap, but her thoughts kept interrupting. It wasn't helping that the smell of Jason's cologne on the blankets were also reminding her of him, and redirecting her thoughts towards him.

Jason. She wasn't really sure how she felt about him. Piper knew he was off-limits, but she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit attracted to him. And she didn't want to. She had already fallen for enough self-centered jerks. Piper was not going to enter _that_ cycle again.

_But you're going to help him to be better, _Piper's mind said to her.

"Shut-up," Piper mumbled. He has Reyna, Jason doesn't need Piper in the mix too. That would just make things more complicated than they really needed to be. Even if he was really good looking.

Piper must have fallen asleep, because she woke up when she heard a distant thump from downstairs. She tried to get back to sleep and almost succeeded until the door opened.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed? Get out!" Jason's voice said.

Piper flipped over the sheets and gave him a death glare. He was in sports shorts and his hair was wet. Like always, he still looked like a god. That didn't make her any less annoyed with him though.

"Lesson Number One: Don't order a woman around!" Piper snapped as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Jason just stared at her. Piper stood, and suddenly her breakfast wasn't feeling too good in her stomach. She groaned and held her stomach.

"What now?"

"Not like you care, but I'm going to go throw up now," Piper shot back. Then without even waiting for a reply, she darted for his bathroom.

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**Disclaimer: Dude, I'm not Rick Riordan, I think that's pretty obvious**


	5. A Call To Reyna

Jason was astounded that this-this girl thought she could just _invite_ herself in to his house whenever she pleased. She could have waited in the lobby at least! And to top it off, she was sleeping in his bed. And she was sick. Gross.

Frustrated, Jason tore the blankets off his giant bed and threw them on the ground. He'd have to have the maids come and make it again. The _nerve_ of that Piper! He had a life, a perfect one at that. He didn't need her help. Jason could get Reyna back well enough on his own.

Just when Jason was about to go lift weights to get his anger out, Piper walked into his room again, her minty breath filling the atmosphere. Jason groaned.

"You better not have used _my_ toothbrush," Jason warned.

Piper smiled. "Wouldn't want to share your spit again anyways. I used a spare one you had in the cupboard. I recommend you keep it, because that could happen at anytime. And pregnancy isn't contagious, you didn't have to strip the bed."

Jason realized she was talking about throwing up when she mentioned that it could happen at anytime. "Wait, I thought morning sickness only happened in the morning," he pointed out.

Piper laughed and patted his head. "Oh, how sweet. It's most _common_ in the morning, but it can happen at any time. Maybe you should take some time to learn about things other than how hot you are."

"Whatever. So what now? How are you supposed to help me?" Jason said as he smoothed back his messy hair. Jason noticed Piper blush, so he did it again.

Piper moved her gaze to his trophy case, as if remembering the fateful night that was her reason for being here. "Well, first we will start with your apology to Reyna. You need to contact her. I assume she won't answer any of your calls? I wouldn't."

"Wow, thanks," Jason said grumpily. He just wanted to go lift, not get lectured by Piper. No matter how attractive she was. Piper held out her hand, and Jason reluctantly tossed her his phone.

Piper sat down on his bare bed and began to scroll through his contacts. "Does every girl's name in here have "Baby" after it? Oh, no, Reyna's doesn't."

"Can we do this somewhere else than my bedroom?" Jason asked. With Piper here on his bed, all he could think about was that night when they slept together. He was pretty sure doing it again wouldn't help his situation with Reyna. And Piper was looking pretty hot in her skinny jeans and flats with her light blue shirt.

Piper looked up and blushed, as if she was thinking the same about him. "Yeah. I think that would be a good idea. Let's go down to the living room," she suggested breathlessly. She hurriedly got up and bounded down the stairs and into his living room before Jason even thought about moving.

"Okay then," Jason muttered. He walked down the stairs and found Piper sitting on his couch looking through his phone. "Hey!" he yelled.

Piper looked up and smiled innocently, holding his phone behind her back as Jason got closer. "Somebody's a little upset about being a father, isn't he? Actually, I'm surprised you even told anyone! You must trust Percy Jackson a lot," Piper said mischievously.

"Piper, give me my damn phone back. Now." Jason demanded. He sat next to her on his black couch and held out his hand.

Instead, she pulled out her own phone and put it in his hand. "Trade you. Now it's fair. You can go through my stuff, and I'll go through yours. I haven't deleted anything, not even my messages to my best friend Annabeth, who coincidently is the girlfriend of your friend Percy. Cool, huh? Small world."

Jason put her phone on the coffee table. "You have to the count of three to give my phone back," Jason warned.

"Are you serious? I'm not five years old!" Piper exclaimed. She stuck his phone in her back pocket in defiance.

Jason ignored her. "One. Two. Three!"

Seeing no response from Piper, Jason tackled her. She wasn't as wimpy as he had been counting on, and she pushed him backwards. They wrestled for a few minutes, until they fell of the couch and on to the floor on top of each other.

Jason smelled her minty breath, and realized their lips were dangerously close, and their hands were intertwined above their heads. Piper must have noticed too, because her cheeks reddened. Jason resisted the urge to kiss her and lifted himself off of her.

Piper jumped up and pulled his phone out of her pocket. "So, Reyna."

"Yes. Reyna." Jason repeated. Her name sounded unfamiliar in his mouth, oddly enough. "What do you plan to do, anyway?"

Piper grabbed her phone and began to dial in what Jason recognized as Reyna's number, avoiding Jason's eyes. "Call her off my phone. She's more likely to answer my number than yours, correct?"

"Probably." Jason agreed. He fell down on the couch and Piper followed his lead, but she left a reasonable amount of space between them. Piper hit call on her phone and turned it on to speaker, laying it in the empty space on the couch. Jason waited nervously as the ringer sounded.

"Hello?" Reyna's voice said through the phone.

Piper tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Hello. This is Jason Grace's…counselor, and I've heard that you confronted him on his change in personality as he got more and more famous. You're very important to him, I know, and he is going to revert back to the Jason you knew before the fame. He just needs your support," Piper explained smoothly.

"How do I know this isn't just some nosey reporter?"

"Good question," Piper complimented, "Jason Grace is in fact here with me, to arrange a date to apologize for the arrogant, self-centered, egotistical-"

"Thanks, Piper," Jason interrupted. He leaned close to her phone. "Reyna, I miss you. I need you in my life again, I promise. Whatever has happened to me can change, things like this are reversible."

The phone stayed silent for a moment, and Piper and Jason stared at it intently. Finally, Reyna sighed. "Okay, Jason. Where do you want to meet?"

Jason looked up at Piper for help. She typed something into his phone, and Jason read it quickly. "Here, at my house tomorrow night at 6. I'll make us dinner. Is that alright?"

"If you make it, then maybe there really is hope for you yet. See you then?"

"Bye, Reyna," Jason said.

"Goodbye, Jason."

Piper ended the call and smiled brightly up at Jason. Jason thought he saw a twinge of almost disappointment in her eyes, but it quickly disappeared. She put her phone in her front pocket, averting her eyes from his. Jason grabbed her chin.

"Why are you avoiding eye contact, Miss McLean?" he asked confidently.

Piper tried to pull away, but Jason's grip was too strong. She rolled her eyes. "Just because someone isn't admiring your blue eyes 24/7 doesn't mean something is wrong, Mr. Grace."

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?"

"You are also fixing your relationship with Reyna, so stop flirting, Jason Grace," Piper pointed out. Then, unexpectedly, she punched him in the stomach. Not very hard, but enough for Jason to lose his grip and let Piper run to the opposite side of the living room.

"Hey! That was so unfair!" Jason complained.

Piper shrugged. "Whatever you say," she said simply. Then she pulled out his phone, which he had forgotten she still had. "I didn't know you felt this way about my poor baby!"

"Piper, please give me some privacy! It's my life! My phone! Give it back!" Jason pleaded. He walked over to Piper, who was staring intently at his screen.

Piper smiled sweetly at him in a bad way. "This one's my favorite: "I hate how this girl can think she can just _walk_ on into my life and say she's going to change me just cause she has my baby!" That's heartfelt Jason, that really is."

"Seriously? Just give me my damn phone. What Percy and I talk about is between us two," Jason complained.

"Well if it involves my baby then I think I should have a right to know, especially since you don't seem to want to confide in me and tell me yourself. If you really feel that way, say it to my face, Jason Grace! Do it!" Piper dared as she tightly hugged his phone against her chest.

Jason didn't understand the sudden mood swing at first, but then he reminded himself that she was pregnant. Still, he felt his anger boil to the top. "Fine, Piper McLean!" he yelled. Jason grabbed her shoulders and looked her in her kaleidoscopic eyes.

"I hate the way you bring me back to reality. I hate how damn beautiful you are. I hate that you think you can fix my relationships and change me. I hate that you just invite yourself into my house and life. I hate that you're pregnant, and I hate that god damn baby. But most of all, I hate you!" Jason ranted. He realized that he had gotten dangerously close to Piper as he had spoke.

Piper slammed his phone against his upper chest. "Oh yeah? Is that all you got?"

"Yeah, it is! Got a problem with it?" Jason yelled back as he took his phone out of her hands.

Piper glared at him, her face just inches from his. "You know what I think of you? I think you're arrogant. You think life evolves around you, and the more women the better. You are _so_ self-absorbed that you couldn't even tell that your best friend- _your best friend_, was in love with you! At least I'll admit that getting pregnant was half my own damn fault, I should've been in better control of my emotions. But you won't even do that! And guess what, Jason Grace? I. Hate. You. Too!"

Jason couldn't help but notice how hot she looked when she yelled at him. He wanted to kiss her, but he really didn't feel like getting slapped at the moment. He had a team picture tomorrow. Jason pointed to the door, still keeping eye contact. "Good! Leave! Get out of my sight!"

Piper crossed her arms. "Make me!" she said sassily.

"That's it," Jason growled. He swung her over his shoulder like a sack of flour.

Piper began to wildly smack his back. "Jason! I wasn't serious! Put me down RIGHT NOW!"

"Not a chance," Jason said cockily. He looked over to the door, and nearly dropped himself and Piper.

"Percy!" Jason exclaimed.

"Percy?" Piper's voice came from behind him.

Percy smiled sheepishly and waved. "Hey Jason. I didn't want to interrupt your little feud, sorry. Annabeth told me not to come, and thinking back on it maybe I should've listened. But then again, I wouldn't have seen that, and it was pretty funny. Yep, don't regret coming!"

* * *

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**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, that's about all.**


	6. Arranging A Romantic Dinner

"Do you even have a single nice dinner set? For your own?" Piper asked as she looked though Jason's cupboards in his kitchen. Half of the dishes looked as if they'd been hardly ever used, but none were nice enough for a formal dinner. A romantic one at that.

Jason looked up from the thick stack of papers that Piper had spent nearly all night writing. He was sitting at the kitchen bar, pretty much ignoring everything Piper was doing. "Uh, no. Why would I need a spare set of nice dishes? That's what catering is for," he said as if it should be obvious. Then he returned to reading.

Piper rolled her eyes and shut the last black cupboard. "Okay then, I guess you'll just have to use mine."

"Did you seriously bring them with you?" Jason asked snidely.

Piper had to grasp the handle of the counter to stop herself from reaching over and smacking him. She counted mentally and calmed herself down. "Of course not. I'm going to call a friend and have her bring them over here, so if you'll just excuse me for a moment I'll go and do that."

Jason gave her a look like _whatever_, and started to stare at the stack of papers again that had instructions on how to not be, well, him. Piper slipped into the sleek living room and pulled out her phone. She dialed Annabeth's number, and the phone started to ring.

After a few seconds, Annabeth answered. "What's wrong?" she said immediately.

Piper laughed. "Annabeth, just because I'm at Jason's house doesn't mean something is wrong if I call you! Anyways, are you near my house?"

"As in near do you mean in it?" Annabeth asked.

"What are you doing in my house?" Piper asked, though it was perfectly normal for her to be there. It was like Annabeth's second home.

"That's what I said!" Jason's voice shouted from the kitchen.

Piper covered the phone with her hand. "Shut up and get back to studying!" she yelled. Piper put her phone back to her ear. "Sorry about that. Now why?"

"Piper, you have like the best personal library I know of, plus all the good movie channels. Why wouldn't I be here? Oh, and I was wondering, since you're going to be out for a while, can I invite Percy over and we can watch a movie?"

"Yes, do whatever you want, you guys are always welcome in my house!" Piper said exasperatedly.

"Thanks, Piper!" Percy's voice came in through the phone.

Piper rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her. "Okay, _anyways_, Jason has no good fancy dishes whatsoever, so I need mine from home. Can you guys bring those over as soon as possible?"

"Anything for you! But which set?" Annabeth asked.

"You two decide. I have to go and help Jason start cooking, or else it will never get done in time. See you in a bit, bye!"

"Bye!" Annabeth and Percy said in unison. Before Piper clicked end, she could hear them begin to argue about which set to bring. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell them to choose. Oh well, they would eventually figure it out, or rather Annabeth would.

Piper walked back into the kitchen to see Jason waiting expectantly at the counter, twirling the stool absentmindedly. "So what are you going to make exactly?" he asked.

"_You_ are going to make spaghetti. It's a classic romantic dinner, anyone knows that," Piper said as she pulled a few pots and pans out of the largest black cupboard. "Plus you need this dinner to be extra special because you're apologizing for being a heartless jerk."

Jason smacked down the papers and jumped of his stool, joining Piper at her side. Piper handed him the largest pot. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked.

"Boil water, duh." Piper responded. She flung a tall cupboard where she had found food during her search for nice dishes. Piper shuffled the boxes and cans and spices, looking for the right ingredients. Surprisingly, she found everything she needed to make both noodles and the sauce. Piper piled everything on the counter, while Jason just stared idiotically.

"Problem?" Piper asked sassily.

Jason held up the pot. "How do you boil water?"

Piper almost face palmed. Almost. "Are you serious? Were you not once a struggling college kid? Your parents never taught you how?"

Jason ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "Well, my older sister Thalia showed me once, but that was a _long_ time ago. My parents…they didn't really do much for us. As for the college kid part, Reyna did everything for me pretty much."

"And yet you still blew her off," Piper mumbled under her breath as she arranged her ingredients. She turned back to Jason. "Okay, well the first step to boiling water is to fill the pot with water, amazingly enough."

"How much water?"

Piper laughed while she threw ingredients into a large bowl for the noodles. "Whatever looks good."

"What kind of a measurement is that?" Jason grumbled as he turned on the faucet and put the pot underneath the streaming water. "Is this good enough?" he asked after a short while.

Piper put down the large bowl she had just about to hook into the kitchen aid and walked over to Jason and the sink. She inspected the amount of water in the bowl. "Yes, that's fine. Now put it on the stove on low, we don't want it to boil before we even have the noodles made."

Jason obeyed her orders and returned to her side, where she was mixing the sauce. Piper looked around for something for him to do, and realized that she hadn't even started the kitchen aid yet, so the noodles weren't made into noodles. "Okay Jason, now I'm going to give you the most difficult part. Can you do it, Mr. Football Star?"

Jason looked at her incredulously. "Of course I can!"

"Okay, if that's what you think," Piper said warningly. She pointed the bowl of noodle dough. "That needs to be run through the kitchen aid, so that the noodles are sliced and rounded. Make sure you separate them immediately after they come out, or else they'll stick together."

Jason gave her a blank stare. Sighing, Piper put down her spoon, and walked across the kitchen. "Here, I'll show you how for the first round, but that's all!"

Jason fidgeted with the button. "Why won't it turn on?"

"Maybe try plugging it in? God, you are hopeless," Piper said, gesturing to the empty silver outlet.

"Yeah, that might help," Jason said as they both reached for the cord. He pressed it up to the outlet, accidentally pushing Piper's finger into the socket.

"Ouch! Sparky! Watch what you're doing!" Piper exclaimed.

Jason gave her a confused look. "Why am I Sparky?"

"No apology, no explanation." Piper said simply. "Okay, now for the demonstration on making noodles."

Piper ended up showing him about four times, and by that time the dough was nearly all gone and the freshly made noodles neatly strung out on the counter. The sauce was nearly done, and the oven preheated for her bread she had made between typing Jason's guide.

Distantly, Piper heard Jason's doorbell go off, signaling Percy and Annabeth's arrival with her porcelain dishes. Piper looked over at the stove to check on Jason's pot of water, and seen it was near boiling. She handed Jason the sauce pan.

"While I get the dishes, I need you to do a few things. First, put this on the oven and warm it up. Then, unwrap that Italian bread loaf I made last night and heat it up in the oven. I already set the temperature, so don't worry about that. Last, watch your pot. If it's boiling, start to put the noodles in, but stir them so they don't stick. Okay!" Piper said breathlessly as she ran her fingers through her hair. She was sure she was covered in flour and everything else, but why should she care? It wasn't her date. Piper jogged to the door and opened it quickly.

"Took you long enough!" Percy exclaimed as he dumped a Rubbermaid box onto the ground by the door.

Annabeth slapped his arm and gently lay down her box as he walked to the kitchen. "Careful, Seaweed Brain! They're breakable, and this is my favorite set!"

"So I'm guessing you chose the grey ones?" Piper reached for the handles on the lid to pop it off. The grey set was Annabeth's absolute favorite, and she borrowed it frequently. They were grey, of course, with elegant real silver linings that formed flowers around the edges. In the middle of each flower lay a small pearl. In all honesty, this set was one of Piper's favorites as well.

Annabeth kneeled down beside her and cradled the nearest plate in her arms. "Of course I chose this set! Piper, if Jason breaks a single one of these, I will _kill_ him, got it? You can tell him that, too!"

Piper laughed. "I'll tell him alright!"

Annabeth smiled and leaned in. "So, how are things?" she said lowly.

"As in the pregnancy, Jason, or both?" Piper asked as she searched through the dishes and finding the ones she would need. Piper was avoiding Annabeth's eyes, she swore that girl could read her like a book.

"Both then, if you have to ask," Annabeth answered.

Piper sighed. "Pregnancy is going fine, I just feel really tired lately. The worst of it is almost past, I hope. Yesterday was awful though. As for Jason…well, I hope this all works out. I know, or feel it rather, that he wasn't always like this. Somewhere inside of him that old version is trapped. I want to bring it out, and I'm hoping that fixing his relationship with Reyna will help."

"How do you feel about this? Do you _really_ want his relationship fixed in your heart?" Annabeth said intently.

Piper looked over her shoulder to make sure Percy and Jason were still in the kitchen. Piper felt the panic rise in her chest from Annabeth's words. This was exactly what Piper had been thinking about last night. That tiny shread of hope that kept popping up that made Piper feel guilty. Piper had convinced herself that it was just imaginary, but hearing Annabeth say it out loud just made it more real. Was Piper really hoping Reyna and Jason wouldn't work out in the back of her mind?

Piper made the mistake of looking into Annabeth's intense grey eyes, and she knew everything she had just been thinking was now passed into Annabeth's mind. "That's ridiculous, Annabeth," Piper said, though Annabeth knew exactly what she meant.

Annabeth stood up, and Piper joined her. "Well, we better get going so you guys can finish up before Reyna arrives. PERCY!" she yelled.

Percy popped his head out of the kitchen. "Time to go? Bye, Jason. Good luck with your dinner…and everything else," Percy said into the kitchen, then walked out to join Annabeth by the door.

Annabeth turned to Percy. "You can head out, if you want. I have to talk to Piper for a second."

"Okay, I'll get the car warmed up." Percy said, thankfully taking the hint. He left through the door, leaving Piper and Annabeth alone save for Jason in the kitchen.

Annabeth grabbed her shoulders. "Piper, I'm going to tell you something, and I want you to think about it, okay?"

Piper nodded. "Okay."

"Don't fall in so deep that you can't pull yourself back out again. I don't want you to get hurt again," Annabeth said solemnly. She gave Piper one last smile, opened the door, and left, leaving Piper alone.

Piper would think about what Annabeth said later, she promised herself. Right now, she had a job to do. Picking up a few dishes out of the box, Piper walked into the kitchen and laid them down on the counter.

Jason was absentmindedly stirring the noodles, apparently lost in thought. He had flour on random parts of his face, and a few sauce splatters on his blue and gold Tiber Eagles shirt. The kitchen smelled delicious, and Piper wished she would be able to have some of the dinner.

"Jason, can you turn the oven down and help me set the table please? I want to show you how to do it properly, in case you ever need it again," Piper asked.

"Yeah, be there in a minute. I do have a tablecloth to use, so you don't have to use yours. My sister Thalia gave it to me when I graduated from high school. It looks like it will match your dishes perfectly," Jason said offhandedly.

Piper stared at him in amazement. Maybe those papers she had spent all night working on were really working! "Okay, so where is it? That's the first thing I need to put on."

Jason pointed to the tall cupboard near the end of the kitchen. "In there, I think it's at the top."

Piper walked over to the cupboard and opened it. She stood on her tiptoes, jumped and could faintly see that the very top shelf had only one thing on it. She assumed this silver thing clear in the back was the tablecloth. Piper jumped and flung her hand back there, but she couldn't grip it, only feel the smallest piece of smooth fabric. She struggled a few more times before Jason came over.

"Here, I'll get it." Jason offered. He reached his hand up, grabbed the elegant tablecloth, and handed it to Piper.

Piper took it hesitantly. "Where is Jason, and what did you do with him? Never mind the last question, I just want to know where he is!"

"What? I'm just following your instruction book! Can't I practice before Reyna gets here?" Jason said offensively.

Piper laughed and went into the dining room. She was glad this room was at least a little different than the others, with the furniture more classic instead of modern. Piper spread the silvery tablecloth onto the mahogany table, admiring its beauty. It was an expensive one, probably foreign. His sister must really love him.

Jason came in with an armful of plates of different sizes and put them on the table. "Careful, Jason," Piper warned, "Annabeth said she would kill you if you broke even one!"

"Relax, Pipes," Jason said easily.

"Don't call me that." Piper said firmly, even though she really didn't mind. She began to explain to Jason what each plate was for, and showed him how to properly set them on the table.

Piper picked up the last plate, recognizing it as a dessert plate. "Damn it!"

Jason looked up from the silverware box he been picking through. "What's wrong?" he said sharply.

"We forgot dessert!"

* * *

**Thanks for every review, favorite, and follow!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters**


	7. Apology (Sort Of)

"Damn you, Percy, damn you," Jason grumbled to his reflection in the mirror while washing all the flour off. After Piper's freak out because she forgot dessert, she had sent him up to his room to get ready while she rested in the spare bedroom he had shown her.

That was probably the worst thing she could have done, because now he had time to think while he got ready. It wouldn't have been a problem if Percy hadn't decided to bring up the subject of Piper when he visited, because now that's all he could think of. Jason was supposed to think of Reyna, and how he was going to apologize, change…blah blah blah. But _no_, Piper has to be so attractive, and have this amazing personality and all.

Jason debated on whether he had enough time to take a shower or not. He'd take one later, he decided as he opened the giant closet doors. He flipped though his many clothes, trying to decide what to wear. Definitely not a suit. Maybe dress pants?

No way. This dinner isn't that important. Jason pulled out a pair of dark jeans and a plain white shirt. More comfortable, and he looked better in them anyways. Plus, this is what he always wore when he and Reyna hung out together. Piper wouldn't be very happy with his clothing choice, but she would get over it.

After he was finished getting dressed, Jason did one last check in the mirror and brushed his teeth. Right as he stuck his toothbrush in his mouth (He checked to make sure it wasn't the one Piper used) his phone vibrated violently. Jason pulled it out of his pocket.

"Yeah, Piper?" he meant to say, but it was pretty hard to say with a toothbrush in his mouth.

Apparently she didn't care, because she started talking in a frantic voice. "Get to the door! Hurry! Reyna's almost here, Leo just called and told me she walked in the door!"

Jason spit into the sink. "Alright, alright! I'm on my way down!" he said as he hit the end button. Not even bothering to rinse out his mouth, Jason hastily wiped his face and stumbled down the stairs just as the doorbell rang.

Piper was no where in sight, but the table was neatly set with the food delicately covered and the slender red candles were lit. Jason sent a mental _Thank you_, to Piper and approached the door.

Nervously, he reached out and turned the doorknob, revealing Reyna waiting patiently on the other side. Running Piper's guidebook through his head, Jason invited her in.

"Good evening, Reyna. How are you?" Jason said, but it didn't feel natural. He hoped it didn't sound forced to Reyna.

Reyna smiled curiously. "I'm fine, Jason. And you?"

Jason took her hand and led her inside. He remembered the guidebook saying to give a simple answer when the conversation turned to him, let Reyna do the talking or else he would forget not to be self-absorbed.

"I'm good, thanks for asking. Can I show you to your seat?" Jason asked. Jason had spent all morning after team pictures with Piper practicing proper etiquette and how to show a woman to the table.

Reyna gave him another curious look, like she was suppressing a smirk. "Yes, that would be fine, I suppose. Did you really make dinner all by yourself?"

"Pretty much. I did have some help with the recipes though," Jason said smoothly. He led Reyna to her seat and pulled it out for her.

Reyna took it hesitantly and Jason could feel her studying him as he took the cover off her spaghetti plate, poured them both wine, and sat down at his seat across from her. Jason took off his cover and lifted his glass.

"Here's to us, and a new start," Jason said.

Reyna lifted her glass and joined him. "Agreed."

They set their glasses back down and began to eat, making conversation between bites.

"I must say, Jason, I'm impressed. What changed you? What happened?" Reyna asked, twirling a strand of spaghetti on her fork.

Jason swallowed and laid down his fork, trying to think of how to word his answer. Obviously, he couldn't tell her about the baby and Piper. "Um, well you see…I got this counselor to help me out, and I realized that I needed you back in my life. I'm sorry for what I've done to you over the years, Reyna. It was immoral of me, and I should've realized what fame was doing do my personality. Will you take me back?"

Reyna pursed her lips. "As a friend, I will. I know I said I wanted a relationship with you, but right now I want to make sure that you really have gone back to the Jason I first met. I'm not eager to get my heart broke again," she said slowly, pushing a meatball around her plate.

Jason's spirits lifted. Piper's guidance was actually paying off! "Great! It's been pretty lonely without our usual Wednesday night movie every week. Do you think we could reinstate that?" he asked, shoving the last bit of spaghetti in his mouth.

Reyna smiled and took a drink. "I think I could handle that."

* * *

As soon as Reyna left, Piper burst through the spare bedroom door and chased Jason down. "You did it! You really did it! I had my doubts, but you did it!" Piper exclaimed while jumping up and down.

Piper was happy that things were working out for Jason, and that little by little he was reverting back. She had listened to his dinner conversation with Reyna (Thanks to Leo's secret microphone that Piper attached under the table) and had heard them making up to each other. She was happy, really. Even if it was on the outside. Even if she was lying to herself.

Jason grinned. "I know! I can't think of how to thank you, you've been such a great help. Where would I be without you?"

Piper's stomach dropped, and she hoped it didn't show on her face. She regained herself quickly. "Well, definitely not here. Now to the hard part!"

"What do you mean? About me or the mess we need to clean up?" Jason asked.

Piper frowned. "Now that you say it, both. How about we talk while cleaning?"

Jason shrugged and picked up a dirty plate. "Sure, why not. But why can't I just call someone up here to clean up the mess for us? It would be so much easier and I don't feel like doing it," he complained.

Piper picked up a few more dishes and piled them up in Jason's arms. "Uh, no. We don't take the easy way out, no, we work hard for our success. Which also involves doing the whole job, not just the beginning. Now put those in the sink, I'll grab the rest, and I'll wash the dishes while you do everything else," Piper instructed.

After about an hour of vigorous scrubbing and cleaning while Piper told Jason on what he could improve on (like walking Reyna to the door when she left), the kitchen was spotless. Piper carefully placed the last of the delicate porcelain dishes in the tub and closed the lid tightly.

"Hey, I'm going to haul this box down to my car and come back for my purse and the other box," Piper said, pulling her keys out of her pocket.

Jason jumped off the couch and held out a hand. "Here, I'll just take that box. You get your purse and the other one."

Piper put her hands on her hips. "Wow, someone's awfully in a hurry to get me to leave."

Jason's hand fell down. "Oh, well okay."

"I'm just kidding, Jason. I appreciate the offer," Piper laughed at Jason's expression while slinging her purse on her shoulder.

"Women," Jason muttered. But he picked up a box and opened his door all the same.

Piper smiled encouragingly and went through the door and into the hall. Jason closed the door with the tips of his fingers and pressed the elevator button. Soon, the shiny elevator doors opened and the both of them stepped in and Jason punched the lobby button. The elevator jerked into motion.

After a few moments of silence, Piper decided to break it. "Jason, I'm really proud of you, do you know that?"

Jason looked over to her in surprise, but Piper kept her eyes fixed on the door. "You are?"

Piper laughed lightly. "Yeah. I am. But don't let that go to your head, okay?"

Jason was quiet for a moment. "Why do you have so much faith in me?"

She couldn't decide if he was being sarcastic or not, so she just went with not because she did have an answer for that. "Because I know that somewhere under all your excessive ego a different you is buried. Tonight, I think I seen him come back for a while," Piper said slowly.

"Piper-" Jason started to say, but the elevator stopped and the doors slid open.

Piper rushed through the lobby and out to her deep purple car that was parked on the busy curb. She was avoiding Jason, too afraid of what he might have said. Even if it was nothing important, she couldn't be too careful. Piper clicked the button on her keys, and the car beeped. Piper walked around and lifted the trunk up, carefully placing her box in. Jason lay his box next to hers and closed the trunk for her.

"I guess this is goodnight," Jason said lamely.

Piper pretended to be interested in the bustling traffic. "Yes, I suppose so."

Jason crossed his bare arms and Piper realized that it was January and he wasn't even wearing a coat. "Jason, you better get inside or you'll get sick. You can't afford to be with playoffs this weekend," Piper scolded.

"I'll be fine," Jason said haughtily.

"Okay, whatever you say." Piper said. She walked around to the driver's side and Jason followed. Piper reached for the door handle, but Jason got there first. "Jason, I can get the door just fine by myself."

"What's wrong with me opening it?" Jason protested.

Piper pushed his hand away from the handle and opened it herself. "Because, Jason, I'm not your girlfriend. Reyna is. Practice that kind of stuff on her, okay?" she said firmly as she sat inside and put the key in the ignition.

Before Jason could respond, Piper turned the key, slammed the door, and drove off into the busy streets. She didn't want to hear his answer. Her feelings for him were already complicated enough. In frustration, Piper turned up the radio to block anymore thoughts on the way home.

Music blasting, Piper pulled into her rocky driveway a half an hour later. Annabeth's car was still here, but Percy's was gone. Without even parking in her garage, Piper turned off her car and stepped out into the country air.

Piper loved her house and the area around it, even if it was deserted in the middle of nowhere. It was quiet and peaceful, with many hills and few trees all around, the dead knee-high grass waving gently in the January breeze. Even in winter, the sight was breathtaking.

Her house that her father had had built for her blended in to the landscape perfectly. Of course it did, Annabeth herself had designed it, which was how they had met. The house met the standard white farmhouse stereotype, but looked as if it had been brought straight out of an old rich plantation down in the south because of its size. Piper hadn't wanted an extremely big house, she didn't need all the extra space, so her father and her had agreed to meet in the middle.

Piper also had a barn behind the house with a few horses, only one of which that was hers. Some people paid her to keep their horses there with quite a bit of money since the area was so rich. Enough money that it served as Piper's main job other than the fact that she assisted Annabeth in her architecture job sometimes. Percy helped out as a trainer too when he wasn't playing.

Breathing in the fresh air, Piper walked up her columned porch and opened the door, walking into the entrance room. Her old-fashioned house was dark, but if she squinted she could see the faint glow of the T.V. coming from her living room. Piper hung her coat on the rack and walked softly through the house and into the living room.

Sure enough, Annabeth was laying on the couch, fast asleep, while the History Channel was playing something about the possibility of aliens. Piper sighed and shook Annabeth awake.

Annabeth snapped awake. "Are the dishes okay?"

"Yes, they're perfectly fine, don't worry. I was just waking you up to let you know I'm home," Piper assured.

Annabeth rubbed her eyes and pushed her blonde hair out of her face sleepily. "I'm staying overnight. I don't feel like going home."

Piper laughed. "That's fine. Do what you want, this house is practically half yours," Piper said. She was used to Annabeth staying over all the time.

Annabeth sat up on the couch. "So, how did it go?"

"Jason did great, actually. Reyna forgave him and all. They even agreed to reinstate their movie nights together," Piper tried to say enthusiastically.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Something else happened." she stated.

Piper stretched. "You know, I'm kinda tired. I think I'm going to go to bed," Piper said smoothly as she got up from the couch and walked up the wooden stairs and into her room.

Piper quickly undressed and jumped into her bed, hugging her stomach. She hated leaving Annabeth like that down there, but she was afraid. Afraid of what?

Afraid that maybe, just maybe, she was falling for Jason Grace.

* * *

**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.**


	8. Nature's Magic

Jason whistled happily as he drove home from the latest practice with Percy a week later.

He was completely satisfied with life at the moment for the most part. Football? Going great. If they won this next game this Sunday, the Tiber Eagles would be going to the Game of Champions, the highest honor of football out there. Reyna? She seemed satisfied with Jason. Last movie night went awesome. Lessons with Piper? That was a different thing.

Sure, the lessons themselves were extremely helpful. Jason himself began to feel differently, he could notice the change in his attitude. He actually liked it, he felt more…free, he supposed.

No, it was Piper that made things difficult. She was so gorgeous, and her personality was so addicting. And there she was, always going on about how to treat Reyna right when all Jason wanted to do was try all her lessons on her. Jason tried, he really did, to think of Reyna as more than a friend, but he just couldn't do it. It was Piper that made him feel that way. The off-limits Piper.

Percy looked up from his phone in the passenger seat. "Someone is in a good mood today, don't you think?"

Jason hit the brake as a stoplight turned red. He looked over to Percy. "Well, yeah. Who wouldn't be? Life's good."

"I'm sure that's the reason. You don't happen to be thinking of a…I don't know…special someone?" Percy taunted as the car went in motion again.

Jason reached over a hit Percy in the shoulder. "I'm going to stop telling you everything," he warned.

Percy shrugged. "I'm not too worried about it."

"And that's what scares me," Jason muttered to himself, taking a sharp turn around the block and parking in front of Bunker 9.

Jason unbuckled and grabbed his sports bag while Percy did the same next to him in the passenger seat. Leo was waiting happily at the door as usual, again fixing something.

As they approached, Leo looked up from his project. "Hey guys! I'd shake your hands, but mine are greasy and you look sweaty…so no thanks."

Percy opened his arms. "Then I guess you want a hug!"

Leo yelped and held a wrench out in front of him. "Stay back, Waterboy!"

Jason laughed. Mostly everyone called Percy Waterboy as his nickname for the team because of his background. See, Percy hadn't started out as a football player, no, he was first the water boy. But after a coach at his college had seen his abilities one day, Percy had been immediately recruited to the team, but the name Waterboy had stuck.

"I'm coming to get you!" Percy said in a zombie voice.

"Back! Stay back!" Leo instructed while shaking the wrench.

Jason glanced around them. People were starting to stare at the odd scene at the door involving a doorman and two famous football players in interest. Jason pushed Percy through the door. "Time to go now. See you later, Leo!"

Leo wiped his greasy hand across his forehead. "Whew, I though I was gonna get eaten. You too!" he called from the other side of the door.

Jason and Percy stepped into the elevator, and it jerked into motion as Jason typed in his floor number. They made small talk about the game Sunday and were in the middle of a conversation about Dakota being sober for the game when Percy's phone went off. Percy gave him an apologetic look, answered the phone, and mouthed _Annabeth _to Jason's questioning look.

"Yeah?…. I just got here though!…Fine, okay….Yeah…Yeah…Love you too," Percy hung up the phone and looked at Jason.

"Everything okay?" Jason asked.

Percy laughed. "Nothing's wrong, Annabeth is just here to pick me up."

"Why? I thought we were going to hang out until Piper got here," Jason said. The elevator stopped, but neither of them made a motion to get out.

Percy leaned against the side of the elevator. "Apparently Piper has a flat tire, so she won't be making it today. It's Annabeth's day off today and she wants to go to Lethe for dinner tonight, which will take a good few hours to drive to. Sorry, man, but I gotta go."

"Kay, guess I'll see you later then," Jason said as he walked out of the elevator, leaving Percy inside. He knew there was no point arguing with Percy because whatever Annabeth said was pretty much followed with no exceptions.

Just as Percy moved to hit the lobby key, Jason turned around. "Hey Percy? What day is it?"

"January 18. Why?"

Jason laughed. "There's a reason Annabeth wants to go to Lethe for dinner tonight instead of you and me hanging out."

Percy at first gave him a questioning look, but then his eyes widened. "Anniversary! I can't believe I forgot! Annabeth is going to _kill_ me!" he said, panicking as he hit the lobby button fiercely. The elevator doors closed, leaving Jason alone in his hall.

Jason unlocked his house and walked in, trying to figure out what to do for the afternoon. He supposed he could call Reyna, but she probably would be at work all day. Plus he didn't really feel like hanging out with her. He kind of felt like hanging out with Piper, but he wouldn't see her today, which was a little bit of a downer.

He grabbed a Pepsi from his refrigerator and walked up to his bedroom, pulling off his sweaty shirt on the way there. Jason took a drink, sat it down on the bedside table, and checked his phone. One missed call from Piper. Even though he knew what she wanted, he still called her back.

The phone rang for a few seconds, but then Piper's voice filled the phone. "Jason! I'm so sorry, but I can't come today! I have a flat tire and no spares and the automotive shop I go to is closed on Fridays and I hate driving my pickup in cities."

"Hey, it's fine. Seriously Piper, it's no big deal," Jason reassured, looking through his closet for clothes.

"Oh, right. I forgot that you hated lessons. Enjoy your day off then," Piper said shortly.

Jason froze, dropping the shirt he had in his hands. "Wait! No, that's not what I meant."

"Then what _did_ you mean?"

He picked up the shirt again. "I meant, it's no big deal that you can't come to my house. How about I come to yours for a change?"

The phone was silent for a moment. "Yeah, okay. Can you get here without getting lost?"

* * *

As Jason pulled into Piper's property, he was mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the surrounding land. Everything flowed together in a way Jason had never seen before, including Piper's house. Jason stepped out of his car and took everything in.

Her house was regal yet humble, like it had been taken straight from a plantation in the 1800's with a white barn in the back and all. It looked like it belonged with the land though Jason was sure the house had been built just for her, he vaguely remembered Percy forcing him to read about it in a magazine a few years ago. Which meant Annabeth was the main designer of the place, of course.

Looking around at everything, Jason was almost jealous that Piper got to come home to this after everyday. It was peaceful and away from the harsh reality of the city. He could imagine Piper laughing in the summer breeze against the sunset, wilderness surrounding her. His child would grow up here, wild and free with Piper at his side. While Jason lived on with his city life and fame.

Sighing, Jason walked up the stone steps and on to her columned porch. He knocked, seeing there was no doorbell around. He heard shuffling from inside, and a few seconds later the door swung open to reveal a very flustered Piper.

"Hey, Jason. My house is a mess, sorry! I've been cleaning it ever since you called, but it's just too big!" Piper ranted quickly. "Sorry, uh, come in!"

Jason smiled and eagerly stepped into her house. The design of the inside was breathtaking as well, looking just as old-fashioned as the outside. An elegant staircase winded up onto the second floor while the rest of the house followed its example of elegancy by having intricate designs and smooth rounded corners.

Piper gestured to her house nervously. "So this is home. Fancy, but I don't mind."

"It's amazing! Why didn't we just start lessons here in the first place?" Jason asked, walking around and admiring the furniture. He found the living room and sat down on the couch.

Piper followed him. "Because you never would have showed up, that's why."

"That's probably true. I'm definitely glad things worked out the way they did though," Jason said, smiling at Piper.

Piper blushed and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear that had fallen out of her braid. "Thanks, but you're not getting rid of me until the Game of Champions is over. I want to make sure that Mr. Cocky Jason doesn't come back after you win the game."

"So you're rooting for the Eagles I take it? You really think we'll do that good?" Jason asked, getting comfortable on her couch.

"Well duh I want you to win! And I know you're that good," Piper said confidently.

Jason didn't know why, but finding out that Piper wanted him to go to The Game of Champions really made him happy. "Thanks, Piper. I really appreciate that. I really do."

Piper blushed and changed the subject. She had been doing that a lot lately, like she was trying to avoid the conversation from going somewhere. "Well, we'd better get started before it gets dark. I think you'll like today's plans."

Jason stood up from the couch. "Really? What are we going to do?"

"Go get in my pickup outside and I'll worry about the rest, okay?"

"Okay?" Jason said questionably. He was sad to leave the gorgeous house, but he followed Piper's order and left the house and sat in her dark blue pickup in front of the house. He was wondering what they were going to do when Piper walked out of her house with an armful of blankets.

She opened the driver side door and tossed the blankets to Jason. "Hold these while I drive." Piper instructed.

Jason put them on his lap. "May I ask what we are doing?"

Piper started the pickup and began to drive up a path that Jason hadn't noticed before. "We're going to get a breath of fresh air. It's good for the soul and today is nice," she said like it should be obvious.

They sat in silence for a short while until Piper had driven them deep into the wilderness and parked just outside a group of trees by a small cliff. They both got out of the pickup and Piper began to walk through the trees on a well-worn path. Jason went after her, blankets in his arms.

Piper looked over her shoulder at him. "Do you think you can keep up?"

"Of course," Jason scoffed.

With that, Piper took off in a dead sprint through the trees. Jason accepted her challenge and chased after her over the dead branches, trying to keep her in sight. He quickly caught up to her, but he didn't know where to go so he was forced to run alongside her.

"Jason…slow down…almost…there!" Piper panted in-between breaths.

He looked up ahead and slowed his pace. He could see a small lake with an equally sized waterfall showering gently into it, and a sandy beach surrounding it. As he got closer he realized that the lake drained into a river flowing through the land.

Piper stopped near the water, breathing hard. Jason however was in perfect shape from football. "Wow, this is amazing!" Jason said as he admired the scene.

She looked up and held out her hands for the blankets, finally having her breath back. "Yeah, it's a good place to think. I come here all the time just to relax and…forget about things, I suppose."

Jason took a blanket away from her and laid it down on the sandy beach. He helped her sit down and sat down beside her. "Piper, I'm sorry for all that you're going to go through in about seven months. So I've been thinking, can we have joint custody?"

Piper leaned away from him and wrapped another blanket around herself. "Jason, I don't think that would be a good idea. For one thing, what are you going to tell your girlfriend?"

"Reyna's not-"

"Don't, Jason. Just don't." Piper interrupted. She leaned back onto the blanket on the ground so that she was facing the sky. Jason couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked right now.

"Piper?"

"Yeah?"

Jason leaned over Piper. "Can I feel my baby?" he whispered.

Piper blushed. "Sure. Okay," she said breathlessly.

Cautiously, Jason reached his hand through the blanket and under Piper's coat and shirt until he felt her bare skin. Piper shivered at the touch of his cold hand at first, but Jason continued feeling her stomach.

And there it was, the miracle of life in a small but decisive baby bump. Jason smiled and met Piper's gaze as she put her hand on top of his under her shirt. "Amazing, isn't it?" she whispered.

And suddenly, without even thinking, Jason was leaning over and kissing Piper like there was no tomorrow. Piper surprisingly kissed back for a few moments, then pushed him away gently.

"Jason, we have to stop." she said pleadingly.

"Why?" Jason asked.

Piper sat up, pushing herself away from Jason. "You're supposed to be kissing Reyna, not me."

* * *

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	9. Wins And Losses

"Finally! It's over!" Piper yelled to Annabeth over the cheering football crowd. Unfortunately, she was talking to herself because Annabeth was sprinting onto the field to go kiss Percy or something.

The last three hours had been torture. Piper didn't even understand how football worked, no matter how many times Annabeth described it. All she knew was that they ran back and forth over the end and got points. And she knew that she wanted the Eagles to win.

But not understanding what was going on led her to think about Jason and watch him on the field, wondering what was going through his head. She couldn't help but notice he was the best looking in his uniform, he muscles perfectly toned and his lean figure fitting in nicely. Annabeth would beg to differ of course, but that was just Piper's opinion. And the other five million girls in the world begging for his heart.

Yeah, Piper was in deep. Just like Annabeth had warned her _not_ to be. But Piper couldn't stop herself. She loved the way he had changed, and she could see what Reyna had fallen for. She loved his smile, and the way that little scar on his lip would almost disappear. She love his eyes, oh, his _amazing _sky blue eyes…

_Back to reality_, she'd reminded herself. Then of course, Jason made a touchdown, pulling her back into her thoughts about him.

She was glad the game was over. Now she just had to keep Jason under control as he got ready for the Game of Champions next week. She looked around her and realized she was about the only one left as most were either leaving or on the field. She decided to go join Annabeth on the field.

Rushing and pushing through the crowds of reporters and people, she locked Annabeth and Percy in her sights. It was hard to identify anything through the stream of blue and yellow jerseys of the Eagle's fans. Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand from behind.

"Hey! Let go!" Piper yelled.

"Chill, Piper. It's just me!" Jason's voice said.

Piper spun around to face him. He was sweaty and gross, but he still made it look good. "Jason! Congratulations! You're going to the big game!"

"What?" he yelled back over the pounding noise of celebration.

Piper leaned close to his ear. "Congratulations!" she shouted.

Jason smiled at her, finally understanding. "Thanks, but I couldn't have made it here without you!" he cried back.

A bright light filled Piper's eyes, and she recognized it as a camera. Sure enough, a reporter started to loudly talk. "Jason Grace, do you care to share your new girlfriend with us?"

Jason looked away from Piper and stared at the reporter in confusion. "What are you talk-" he started, but then stopped as Piper pulled her hand away from Jason's. His eyes widened in realization. "Ohhh, you think…no, she's just a friend!"

"Hey, is that Tristan McLean's daughter, Piper?" another reporter butted in.

Apparently, that got every other reporter's attention too and they began to bombard both Piper and Jason with questions. Piper couldn't hear the ones directed towards Jason, but she could sure as hell hear the ones towards her.

"How did you get together with Mr. Grace?"

"Is there anything you would like to say to your ex, Dylan Miller?"

"Are you only interested in the most famous men?"

"What is the best thing about Jason Grace?"

"Piper McLean!"

"Piper! Piper!"

Sensing the paparazzi's relentlessness, Piper shot Jason an apologetic look and pushed past the group of reporters surrounding them, looking for a way out of the stadium. She found her exit and ran towards it, only to be blocked by a cheerful looking blonde in pigtails and braces, holding out a microphone in excitement.

"Can you give us a quote on your relationship with Jason Grace, Miss McLean?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Piper! Wait!" a voice called out. Piper glanced nervously behind her to see Jason running past the reporters over to her. Did he not realize he was just going to make things worse?

The microphone waved in front of Piper impatiently and she took it quickly. "You want a quote? How about this: Your fake stories do not change anything. Jason Grace and I have nothing more between us than friendship, got it? It's none of your business to spread vile rumors. I have no feelings for him. That's all," Piper said as she threw the microphone back into the girl's hands.

Piper turned violently before anyone could see the growing tears in her eyes. Unfortunately she turned right to face Jason himself. His face was downcast in hurt.

"If…if you…Why didn't you just tell me?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry," Piper apologized and ran towards the exit, wiping the tears rapidly falling down her face away.

* * *

"WOMEN!" Jason yelled, throwing the bar and weights on floor in frustration.

Lost was a large understatement of how Jason was feeling at the moment. What had he done wrong to deserve this? The _one_ girl that he had actually felt different, more himself with had publicly rejected him.

Jason had avoided checking the mail coming home from practice today, instead heading straight to his weight room. He didn't want to know what the headlines on the magazines said. Lifting weights took every thought out of his mind and made him focus.

At least, that's what they used to do. Now all he could think about was Piper, wondering where he had messed up. He'd thought things were working out fine. He'd thought Piper had feelings for him. Maybe she did, but she wasn't about to tell that to the media. Was she embarrassed of him?

He wanted to ask her, but she wouldn't answer his calls. Or his texts. Or the door when he had decided to drive over to her house, which resulted in a very scary blonde girl threatening him with a kitchen knife.

Sighing, Jason abandoned the weight room and took a shower to drown his thoughts for a while. When he finished, he got dressed and walked down the stairs to go watch some T.V. for the rest of the night. He went to the kitchen to get something to eat, and stared into the refrigerator blankly.

"Jason."

Jason stumbled backwards at the sound of a voice. He looked around to see Piper standing at the door with a look of guilt on her face. "Damn, Piper! You nearly gave me a heart attack," he said, closing the fridge door and opening the freezer to get some ice cream.

Piper stepped forward into the kitchen and sat on a barstool. She messed with her messy braids for a moment, then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for abandoning you at your big game and pretty much ruining your day, and for not answering your phone calls, texts, or my door, and ignor-"

"It's fine, Piper, don't worry about it. I'm glad you're here now," Jason said, smiling. He scooped some ice cream into the blender and added some mix. "Hey, can you get two cups for me?"

"Oh, Jason, I don't want any-"

"Now." Jason ordered as he turned the blender on.

Piper made a face but got two glasses and put them beside the blender all the same. "Happy?" she asked sarcastically as she returned to her barstool.

"Very," Jason replied. He stopped the blender and poured the malt into the cups equally. He grabbed two straws and placed them into the glasses, then he walked them over to Piper. He handed hers to her and stayed on the opposite side of the bar.

Piper took a drink and looked up in surprise. "This is actually pretty good!" she complimented.

"Thanks! I've been practicing my kitchen skills," Jason said proudly.

Piper motioned to the mess in his sink. "Maybe you should also include cleaning the dishes now," she teased.

"Hey, I'm taking baby steps!"

She laughed and took another drink. "So have you seen the magazine headlines lately? More like today especially."

Jason grimaced and chugged the last of his malt. "No, I haven't. Anything bad?"

Piper nodded and pulled something out of her purse. "Yeah, well, be prepared. It seems that we have a spy," she said slowly. Then she smacked a bright magazine on the counter.

He reached out and looked at the cover with caution. When he seen the picture, he about dropped it and ran. It was a picture of him and Piper at her house. More specifically at her waterfall. When they were kissing.

The headline read: **Grace and McLean…together in secret? More on page 88.**

Jason groaned and looked up and Piper in amazement. "How did they get this? I was pretty sure we were the only ones there."

"I don't know, Jason. But paparazzi has its ways, unfortunately. The press is going crazy with this new "information". I'm surprised that you weren't bombarded after practice today," Piper said as she grabbed their glasses and walked over to the sink.

Jason flipped to page 88 and looked over to Piper, who was starting to wash his dishes. "No, I didn't notice any excess paparazzi today. But then again, we've tightened security by a tenfold since we made it to the Game of Champions."

Piper shrugged. "Well, just read the article. It gets interesting."

Jason leaned against the counter and started to read the brightly decorated article.

_Who would have guessed? Well, certainly not us! Yes, America. It's true: Jason Grace, the star quarterback for the Tiber Eagles, and Piper McLean, the daughter of actor Tristan McLean, are together as a couple! Do we have a new favorite celebrity couple? Jason+Piper=Jasper! _

_Now you may be asking, what is the proof of this relationship? Our answer to you is the front cover! But that's not the only picture, as you can clearly see from this page. We've been tracking their time together and have noticed the excess time they spend with one another. Truly, secrets can't be kept very long. And McLean's comment after Grace's winning game last Sunday? Anything but nice! Haven't seen it yet? Just visit our website at any time!_

_Okay, so look at picture #6 for us. It oddly shows Mr. Grace with his hand on Piper's stomach. What's that all about? Has this secret affair taken the next step…as in children? We can only assume, sadly enough. _

_Let's not forget about Miss Reyna though, who Jason Grace was sighted with last week! Is this the start of a very complicated love-triangle? Certainly, things are about to get juicy for us reporters and you readers! _

_Well, keep a weather eye out for us, and if you see anything suspicious, be sure to get a picture! We know we'll be wanting an interview with one of the Jasper couple! So confirm it for us…Is Piper McLean really pregnant? Are she and Jason Grace in a secret relationship? _

_Love you for now, Drew Tanaka, Senior Reporter._

As he finished reading, Jason slammed the magazine on to the table. "How did they find out? And surely they couldn't just draw conclusions from one little picture that you were pregnant, could they?"

Piper shut the dishwasher and wiped her hands dry. "I don't know. They must have more information that they aren't releasing, that would be my best guess. Trust me, it wasn't in my plans for them to find out this stuff."

"I'm okay with them finding out, really. I'm not going to hold it against you," Jason said slowly.

Piper shoved the magazine back into her purse roughly and looked at the clock. "Yeah, but I bet once Reyna sees it she will _not_ be happy with you. I want you to tell her that it's not yours, okay? I want you to make up a whole bunch of lies and deny everything. And if you don't, you will have my wrath to deal with, got it?"

"Piper, I don't want-" Jason protested, but Piper cut him off.

"Shut-up and do it, alright? That's the lesson for today. I have to go, I have a doctor's appointment to get to and I'm going to have to sneak in without the media seeing me," Piper said, walking over to the door while putting her coat on.

Knowing it would be pointless to fight her, Jason opened the door for her. "Bye, Piper. Good luck at the doctor's."

Piper walked into the elevator. "See you. And good luck to you. Make sure you call her!" she yelled as the doors shut on her.

Jason smiled and walked into his living room and sat on the couch. He flipped on the T.V. and watched it for a few minutes without really absorbing what was going on before he remembered that he had to call Reyna. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked for her contact name.

Normally, she would be on speed dial, but during one of his first lessons with Piper his phone had gotten reset, and he had had to reenter all his contacts and set everything again. He hadn't set speed dial up yet.

He found her name and hit the call button. It rang for a long time, but Reyna finally answered. "Hey, Jason, I'm kind of busy. Can I call you back later?"

"No, this will be really quick! Can you meet me at your favorite coffee shop tomorrow after practice?" Jason said hurriedly.

"Yeah, yeah, no problem. I got to go now Jason! Love you!" Reyna said and hung up.

Jason watched his phone in awe as it blinked _call ended_. Did Reyna just say "Love you"? Great. Now things were going to be even more complicated. Jason was pretty sure she hadn't read the article yet by the tone of her voice. Jason didn't want to hurt Reyna's feelings, she was his best friend. But he loved Piper.

Yeah, it was true. He loved Piper.

* * *

**Thanks for all the support! Love you guys!**

**Disclaimer: The characters, yes, I do not own the characters. The End.**


	10. Coffee, Truth, And Blizzards

Jason waited patiently at the table at Reyna's favorite coffee shop. He'd never really known why she preferred this one over all the rest, with the name Rainbow Organic Foods & Lifestyles. It was owned by a woman named Iris, but Jason had never met her, only the cheery waitress, Fleecy.

As if sensing Jason's thought's about her, Fleecy appeared with her notepad and apron, her eyes flashing from gray to white to black. "Can I help you yet?" she asked.

Jason forced a smile. "No, still waiting. I'm sure she'll be here soon."

Fleecy nodded and walked away to the next table. Jason stared at the door, willing Reyna to walk in, but she didn't show. Which left Jason to tap his foot in anxiety.

He hadn't told Piper, but last night Jason had decided to end any further romanticism with Reyna. He just wanted to stay friends with her, that was all. It wasn't fair of him to lead Reyna on when he was really thinking of Piper.

Jason looked at his watch again, and realized Reyna was only five minutes late. He must have arrived way earlier than he had expected. Then again, he'd been up all night debating on what to do.

The doorbell dinged pleasantly and Jason looked up to see a very flustered Reyna at the doorway. She was in her business suit and her dark hair was tightly braided back, so she looked like her usual intimidating self. She found Jason and promptly sat down across from him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, there was a traffic jam, and my work called and said they need me for an emergency meeting at eleven, which I didn't even plan on going to work today! It's been a long morning," she ranted. "Anyways, good morning!"

Jason laughed. "Thanks, Reyna. Good morning to you too! And I wasn't even really upset about your tardiness, I was just early."

Fleecy the waitress stood at the end of their table. "_Now_ can I take your order?"

"Yeah, um, we just want the usual, if that's all right with you, Reyna." Jason responded.

"Yes, that's fine." Reyna said.

Fleecy rolled her eyes. "Well, you could've just said that in the first place, and I could've had your order ready a long time ago!" she said exasperatedly, walking off to go place their order.

Jason turned back to Reyna. "Anyways, how have you been?"

"Better. Not really excited about this storm that's supposed to happen later today. Did you hear the forecasts? Blizzard, with a _least _six inches of snow and winds up to sixty miles per hour. Crazy, isn't it?" Reyna asked, staring out the window as if expecting the sky to open up and attack.

Jason nodded. "Yeah, that won't be fun, especially with the big game coming up on Sunday. Can you make it back from work okay without getting caught up in it?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry. When are you guys leaving for Lethe?" Reyna asked Fleecy laid their coffees on the table.

Jason mouthed _Thank you _to Fleecy then answered Reyna's question. "Early Sunday morning. We're not staying over since it's a relatively close city, and I wouldn't want to anyway."

Reyna smiled and continued talking and taking drinks in-between sentences, but Jason wasn't hearing anything she was saying. Her obsidian eyes turned to kaleidoscopic, her dark firmly braided hair turned to chocolate colored, choppy and uneven. In no time, instead of Reyna sitting there, it was Piper.

"Jason? Are you even listening?" Reyna said, breaking Jason's daze. Jason blinked a few times, and her face returned to normal.

"Uh, yeah…I mean, no. I got distracted, sorry," Jason apologized, taking a drink from his coffee. "I've got something to tell you, okay?" he added.

Reyna nodded and motioned a finger. "Go on."

"I think I just want to stay friends. I love you, Reyna, but I've come to realize that I love you like a sister. You've been my best friend since, well, forever, and if we did actually get together and later broke up…I don't want to lose my best friend. I hope you understand," Jason said nicely.

Reyna sighed and ran a finger through a loose strand of hair. Her eyes focused on something out the window. "You don't see me, do you? I can tell the difference in the way you look at me compared to her," she said slowly.

"Reyna-"

"Oh, stop it, Jason. I'm not saying that I believe everything that magazines come out with, but I've noticed. I knew something dramatic had to happen for you to change like that, it just wasn't normal. This Piper, she makes you happy, doesn't she?" Reyna asked, but she sounded like she was trying to keep her voice upbeat.

Jason nodded, knowing it would be no good to lie. Reyna was too smart for that. "Yes, she does. I'm sorry-"

"Don't be sorry, Jason," Reyna said, leaning across the table. "Love is a beautiful thing, I've heard. I haven't found mine, but you, you _have_! And I won't keep you back from that, it wouldn't be fair of me. Maybe if you hadn't become famous, things would have worked out between us. But I can't change the past, nobody can. Things happen for a reason, and I've come to accept this. So don't be sorry, Jason," she said, pushing her empty cup to the end of the table.

Jason had only half finished his, but he pushed his aside as well. "I want to thank you, Reyna, for being understanding. Though to tell you the truth, I was expecting a little more violence, like throwing your coffee cup at my head or something."

Reyna half-smiled and looked at her watch. "I better go in case there is another traffic jam," she said, getting up from the table.

Jason followed her out the door, and they stood there in the cold air for a moment. "Goodbye, Reyna. Be safe while you drive tonight, okay?"

"Yes, you too, Best Friend. I'll watch your game on Sunday at home, but good luck!" Reyna said, pulling out her keys and looking uncertainly at the sky.

Jason waved and turned around, but Reyna called his name. "Jason?"

Reyna ran over to him quickly, the wind beginning to pick up his pace. "One last thing. Is it true?"

"Is what true?" he asked, blocking his face from the wind.

"Is she pregnant with your child?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah, she is."

Reyna smiled and started to walk away. "Call me, okay? I want to hear all about it!" she yelled over the wind.

* * *

Jason was starting to worry. It was one o'clock and Piper still had not shown. He was left to pace his living room anxiously in silence, with no T.V. on, and his phone clenched tightly in his hand for any call from Piper.

Reyna had mentioned the bad traffic jams this morning, so maybe that was what she was stuck in, or she had to drive slow on the country roads because of the worsening weather.

Maybe he was just worried because he was nervous about what would happen when she would arrive. He didn't know how she would react, even after all the time they had gotten to know each other over the past few weeks.

He stared out the wide windows in his living room. He could see the storm swirling with snow, and the wind blowing wildly through the buildings. It was so thick that Jason could barely see the street 52 floors down. He'd seen blizzards before in Tiber, the wind rocking against the top floors and keeping him awake all night, but he'd never seen one so violent.

Jason's phone began to vibrate, and Jason answered it eagerly. "Hey, Piper! Are you alright?"

On the other side of the phone, Piper laughed lightly. "Yeah, I'm fine! The traffic in the city sucks though, I might be here for a while even though I'm only about a block away. Everybody's trying to get home as quick as possible, a lot of businesses and schools are closing for the afternoon because of the weather! But don't worry, I'm still coming!"

Jason sighed in relief. "Piper, you could've just stayed home where you're safe, you know. I could've come over to your house for the day. And are you talking to me while driving?" he scolded.

"And risk you getting snowed in at my house two days before the big game? And no, I'm stuck in a traffic jam, so I'm technically not driving, Jason."

"I'm hanging up on you now, because I don't want you to get hurt on my account," Jason said stubbornly, crossing his arms even though Piper couldn't see him.

Piper laughed again. "Okay, Mr. Officer. But not if I hang up first!" she said quickly, and Jason hurt the phone go silent. She had hung up after all.

Smiling, Jason shoved his phone in to his pocket and sat down on the couch. He didn't know what to do now that he was reassured, maybe watch T.V.? Looking around at his house, he realized that it could really use a cleaning. He hadn't asked the maids to come up and clean since he and Piper had made it a big part of his daily lessons, but now that they had started to go over to Piper's once in a while, cleaning had been neglected.

Jason sighed and began to pick up the random objects laying around, the shoes, magazines, clothes, and the occasional wrapper. He put those in the appropriate places and started the great search for his vacuum. Jason found it in the spare bedroom and rolled it into the living room right as he heard the door open. Surprised, Jason checked his watch. It was already 1:45! He'd spent about forty minutes just cleaning!

Piper ran from the door way and practically sat on his heater. She had about fifteen layers on from the looks of it, but she still was shivering. "Jason, it's freaking cold out there! Sorry, buddy, but if it's this cold in Lethe for the Game of Champions, I'm staying in my warm house instead of sitting in a stadium," Piper said, gradually peeling layers of coats off. At about the fifth coat, a whole bunch of alfalfa fell out on to his carpet.

"You are so lucky I haven't vacuumed yet," Jason joked, leaning on the vacuum handle.

Piper blushed. "Sorry, I had to feed the horses before I left. And uh, I don't really have any lesson plans for today, we've pretty much covered everything. So I guess today it just for hanging out."

"You drove through a blizzard and got stuck in a traffic jam for two hours just to 'hang out'?" Jason said, his arms crossed in doubt.

Piper messed with her shirt hem. "Well, I suppose-"

"Piper, we need to talk." Jason stated as he sat on the couch. He patted the spot next to him to motion for Piper to sit down, and she did so uncertainly.

"About what?" she asked slowly.

Jason took a deep breath. "Piper, today Reyna and I made it official-"

"Oh my god! You guys are dating? That's great!" Piper interrupted, but Jason could sense the fake enthusiasm.

Jason held up a hand. "No, we made it official that we are _just friends_…which means no dating. At all."

Piper gasped. "What have you done? All my hard work is gone, wasted…How did you guys decide that, exactly?"

"Um, funny that you ask, really. We uh, had a discussion about my feelings for her," Jason paused, "and you."

Piper narrowed her eyes. "Jason Grace, if you ended it because of me, I swear I will-"

"What, Piper? What? Because I did. Yes, I ended it because I, Jason Grace, love you, Piper McLean!" Jason taunted.

Piper stood up from the couch. "I cannot believe you! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" she said, running her fingers through her hair, pulling out all the braids.

Jason stood up from the couch to face her. "Then what did you honestly expect to happen? For me to hate you? Because darling, that's impossible."

Piper raised her hand to slap him, but apparently thought better of it because she turned and picked up her mountain of coats. "That's exactly what I expected! You were supposed to fall madly in love with Reyna, and not even give me a second thought! I had this all planned out and everything!"

"I really don't see what the problem is here. It's my life, and I'm free to make my own decisions and have my own feelings towards certain people." Jason stated. "And don't you even think about leaving, this conversation isn't over yet!"

Piper threw on a few coats. "Watch me walk through that door, because I'm also free to make my own decisions!" she said loudly, walking towards the door.

Jason ran after her, and caught her by the shoulder as she opened the door. "Piper, please stay," he begged.

"No, Jason. I have to get home," she replied shortly.

"Fine, you can leave. But just- just answer one last question. One, that's all."

Piper sighed. "Okay, what?"

Jason looked her in her beautiful kaleidoscopic eyes. "How do you feel about me?"

She pulled away, and Jason could see the tears welling in her eyes. "I love you, okay? I love you." Then she slammed the door and left Jason alone at the doorway.

Jason wanted to chase after her, but he just let her go, in the end.

He walked in a daze to his couch and turned the T.V. on, but he just laid on the couch and stared blankly at the screen, not really absorbing anything.

Jason really didn't know how much time had passed. One, two, five? Maybe more, but he couldn't tell from the blizzard-dark skies. And it wasn't like he was checking his phone for the time. He stared at it, waiting for any sign of Piper calling, saying everything was alright.

It was later at night when the phone finally went off. Jason eagerly reached for it and answered, automatically expecting Piper's voice without checking the caller-id, but instead of Piper's sweet voice, Percy's filled the speaker.

Jason didn't understand much of what he said, but what he did nearly made him drop the phone.

Piper. Car wreck. Hospital. Lost the baby.

* * *

**So, a big thank you to _everybody! _And quite honestly, I'm not completely happy with the first scene, with Reyna and Jason, but it will work...I think. I hope it's alright. **

**Again , thank you!**


	11. Hospital Angst

The drive to the emergency room seemed to take an eternity.

Jason rushed through the doors and approached the brown haired secretary with a name tag that said Katie. He slapped the desk, averting her attention from her plant covered desk and computer.

"Yes? What may I help you with?" she asked nicely, but Jason could tell she was ready to go home. It was after midnight, after all.

"I need Piper's room. Piper McLean." he said quickly.

The secretary, Katie, looked up suspiciously. "And you are who? Paparazzi is forbidden, just so you know."

"How do you not know who I am? I'm freaking Jason Grace!" Jason said in annoyance. He just wanted to get to Piper's room as quick as possible, and this secretary was being impossible.

Katie rolled her eyes and moved a plant to a different spot. "Oh, right. You're that quarterback, or something like that. But I'm going to have to call in before I can let you into the ward. I'll be just a moment," she explained, closing the window.

Jason impatiently waited at the window. He wanted to know if Piper was okay. He didn't care about practice tomorrow, or that he had sped the whole way here on ice. Jason was out of his mind worried about her, and it was driving him insane. If he didn't get to her room soon, he was going to collapse from the mental pain and stress.

The window slid open again, and Jason leaned into it eagerly. "Can I go now?"

Katie nodded and pressed a button. "Go through that door and turn at the sign that says west ward. Go down that hallway until you get to room w110, that's the one Piper McLean will be in after she gets out."

"Great, thanks!" Jason yelled as he pushed open the door. He walked quickly down the stiffening silent hallways, looking for the sign that pointed to the west ward. He gratefully found it and practically ran down the hallway, studying every room sign. When he caught sight of the label w110 on a door up ahead, Jason's chest rose in complete panic. He needed to get there so bad it hurt.

He flew around the corner and into the room, only to see the hospital bed empty and Percy and Annabeth sitting on the small couch, their hands clamped in anxiety.

"Where's Piper?" Jason asked sharply.

Before Jason could even blink, Annabeth had darted off the couch, picked up a lamp, and was now holding it at Jason's head threateningly. "_What_ in the_ hell_ did you do to Piper? You have five seconds to answer!" she demanded, her grey eyes flashing dangerously.

Jason held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't do anything to her!"

"Then _why_ did she roll her car? Piper is the most careful driver I know, and she would know not to drive like that on an icy road!" Annabeth said, her voice gradually raising. Percy grabbed Annabeth's shoulder and muttered something, but she pushed him away and glared at Jason. "_Well_?"

Jason ran his fingers through his hair and began to pace, the lamp following his every move. "I told her the truth. I told her I didn't want anything more with Reyna than friendship. And…I-I also told her…I love her."

The lamp slightly wavered, but Annabeth exploded. "Are you STUPID? You don't just do that! Do you not think before you do anything!? You _knew_ Piper had a long drive home on _icy_ roads, and yet you _still_ told her something that you knew would unbalance her emotions!" she yelled. Using the lamp, she gestured to the dull hospital room. "And now look where we are! A god damned hospital, waiting for Piper to get back from wherever the hell the doctors took her!"

"Annabeth, please. I don't want you to get kicked out," Percy pleaded, though he looked just as upset as Annabeth.

Her face fell and she put the lamp back and collapsed on the couch with her head in her hands. "Dr. Solace said she'd be out in 24 hours if I signed a sheet and stayed with her. Piper's physically fine, just a few gashes. Emotionally…is a different story," she said slowly. Percy sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Emotionally?" Jason asked, pulling up a chair next to Piper's bed. He wanted to be next to her when she got back.

Annabeth gave him a pained look. "Jason, it's going to be hard for Piper. She just lost her baby. You don't know how excited she actually was to have a baby. She had a room painted and made, and we were even thinking of planning a baby shower eventually. Now she's lost it all. You have to understand what it's like for her."

"Do you think I don't? It was my baby too. But we're going to get through this together," Jason said determinedly, glancing at the wooden door.

"And if she doesn't want to with you? How do you even know she returns your feelings?" Annabeth asked inquisitively.

Jason stared at the dark red curtains behind Percy and Annabeth's couch, wishing he could see outside the window. "She told me right before she left."

Percy's jaw dropped. "Uh…she did what?"

"Moving on, I want to know the details of her wreck. The suspense is literally killing me piece by piece. I just want to know," Jason pleaded, messing with the bleach white sheets.

Annabeth sighed. "From what I got, she was driving home, not really paying attention to the road, when she lost control on the ice and rolled. She called me after it happened and she stayed conscious just long enough for her to tell me where she was and what had happened, then I lost her. I called an ambulance and drove down to see her laying in the snow a couple of feet from her very damaged car. I don't know how she lived through that without any injuries other than a few small gashes. But I do know that the impact killed the baby and caused her to have a miscarriage."

Jason stayed silent for a moment, letting that all sink in. He should've waited, like Annabeth said. He should have done a million different things. But he didn't, and that's what really mattered now. Jason couldn't change the past, he knew that. If he could, he wouldn't have ever even spoken to Piper, he would've made sure of that from the first lesson.

Piper was going to be traumatized. She'd just lost her first child. But she wasn't the only one to be emotionally damaged now. It was Jason's child too, and even though he hadn't originally cared about giving a damn about it, he had begun to. Jason could understand the pain Piper was going to have to get through, and just as Piper was determined to help him, he was determined to help her.

He heard wheels moving down the hallway slowly, and his attention snapped to the door. A doctor with sun-kissed hair came in first, but then a nurse wheeled in a wheelchair that had the most beautiful person Jason had ever seen sitting in it sleepily. She had a few bandages on her forehead, one on her left cheek, and several scattered along her arms. Jason couldn't see the rest of her body, but she still looked just as perfect as ever.

Piper looked around the room in a daze, and her eyes lingered on Jason for moment, then she averted her gaze. The doctor helped her up on to her bed, and turned to greet Jason.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Solace, and I'll be attending to Piper for her stay," he explained. He stepped back to include Percy and Annabeth in the conversation. "Can I speak with you three in the hall?"

They all got up and followed Dr. Solace into the quiet hallway. Dr. Solace closed the door slowly and turned to face them.

"I'll have to give some medications to her for a while, and the next 24 hours will be making sure she doesn't have a reaction and recovery from the miscarriage. Most of her recovery will be taking place out of the hospital though. Have you spoken with her parents?" he asked Annabeth.

Annabeth nodded. "Yes, I called her dad and let him know what was going on. Unfortunately, he is in Europe filming for his next movie, so he will not be able to make it here. So I'll be her temporary guardian as we practically live in the same house, if that's alright."

Dr. Solace nodded in approval. "Yes, that will be fine. I'll get those forms for you in the morning. Now if you don't mind me asking, what are each of your relationships to Miss Piper? Just so that I can fill out the sheet on visitation rights if you leave and want to come back," he said.

"She's my employee and we're also best friends," Annabeth answered quickly, turning her gaze to Percy and motioning his turn.

Percy looked at her quizzically, but then understood what she meant. "Oh, uh, I help out at her horse barn, but I mostly just know her through Annabeth," he explained.

Jason didn't know how to answer that question. "It's complicated," he told the doctor, "But I'm the father of the baby…Or was, I suppose."

"I see," Dr. Solace said simply. "I'm going to inform Katie, my head secretary, that security will have to be tightened to keep the media out of the hospital. If anyone wants to visit that isn't you three, Katie will contact you and ask for permission. I'm going to leave you with my nurse, Kayla."

Annabeth smiled gratefully. "Thank you so much, Dr. Solace."

As the doctor began to walk down the hallway, Jason reached for the doorknob, anxious to see Piper. He opened the door and held it open for Percy and Annabeth, but Annabeth shook her head.

"We'll come in later, I'm going to go to the snack bar," Annabeth reasoned, pulling Percy down the hall.

Jason understood. They were going to give Piper and him some alone time. Jason walked into the room and shut the heavy door quietly. Piper looked up, but then returned her attention to the nurse. The blonde nurse, Kayla, was doing her usual checkup before she left, so Jason just waited for her to finish.

"Okay, Miss McLean. I think that will be all until next hour. If you need me, just hit the button on the armrest here, okay?" Kayla said nicely.

Piper smiled warmly and took a small drink out of a hospital bottle on the table next to the bed. "Thank you, Kayla. I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Okay, well, see you in sixty minutes," Kayla said as she excused herself from the room.

The door closed, and an awkward silence came over Jason and Piper. Piper busied herself with straightening her sheets, and Jason scooted the chair next to the bed and sat beside her.

"Jason, I want to blame you," Piper said, breaking the silence, "but I can't."

Jason was astonished. She wasn't actually trying to blame this on herself, was she? "It's not your fault, if that's what you're getting at, Piper," he said firmly.

Piper sighed and looked at her sunken stomach in pain. "I shouldn't have overreacted. You were just being honest. And I…I just don't know what's wrong with me sometimes," she said, her eyes glistening with tears.

He grabbed her hand. "Let's not blame ourselves or anything else. Look at the future, move forward, okay?" he said lowly.

"Jason, you don't understand! I caused that wreck by driving like a damn idiot! I_ killed_ our baby!" Piper said hysterically, as she succumbed to tears.

Jason jumped onto the bed with her and held her tight, not wanting to ever let her go. She relaxed and cried into his shoulder, completely soaking it after just a few minutes.

He let her because he felt her pain. Their were no words to assure her, they would just feel like lies. Because sometimes not everything would be alright in the end, Jason couldn't promise anything.

The pain was awful, tearing at Jason's heart as he watched and felt Piper go through this for the child he had unknowingly come to love, just as he had come to love Piper. And he wished to whatever gods that were out there that this would never happen again as he felt the bandages covering Piper's gashed up body.

Piper fell asleep crying, and as manly as Jason thought he was, even he could feel a few tears welling up in his eyes as he truly experienced what it was like to lose a child.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not and will never own what Rick Riordan does.**

**Thank you for every piece of support! I seriously appreciate it will all my heart, even if I seem heartless from this chapter!**

**And another thing, a few of you have pointed out on this story and others of my use of saw and seen, and I really apologize for that. That's the way we talk where I'm from, and I've grown up learning that way of speaking (Even my highly educated parents have this habit) so it's hard for me to differentiate from the uses of it. But I'm working on it, promise! I'm sorry if that bothered you! I'll try to use it properly, it'll be hard though. But I'm not mad about it or anything, I really appreciate it!**

**_Anyways_, thank you once again!**


	12. Good News, Bad Timing

"Jason. Seriously, Coach Hedge is going to kill you if you don't show up to practice today," Percy nagged.

"It'll be fine. I'll show up for the game tomorrow," Jason retorted, grabbing the sides of the chair firmly.

They were in Piper's hospital room, and Jason hadn't left since arrival. The hospital had had to move her room from first floor to third as soon as dawn had come because paparazzi had swarmed the hospital, ready for the next juicy story.

It disgusted Jason. He couldn't believe that he had once thought that the media was so great and loved him, because they were sure out for his blood now. Jason wasn't going to let them harm Piper, she was already going through enough.

Jason knew he should go to practice, but he didn't want to leave Piper's side for fear of her waking up and needing him. He was pretty sure Annabeth had set Percy on him, trying to get him to leave and take his mind off Piper. Jason however, was not going to move.

"Please? If you don't want to go to practice, then let's go do something else," Percy suggested, eying the door hopefully.

Jason grabbed Piper's hand gently, admiring the way she looked so elegant while she slept. "Tell Annabeth that I am not moving a single inch."

Percy gripped the door handle. "Yeah, I'm sure that will go over just fine. Especially with her condition lately," he said dryly.

"What 'condition'?" Jason asked curiously.

Percy's hand flew to his mouth. "Damn it. Forget I said anything, okay?"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'll do that."

"But seriously. Just come to practice! It'll take your mind off of things, exercise tends to do those types of things. It will be refreshing!" Percy pleaded.

Jason shook his head. "Nice try, but I'm perfectly happy right here."

"Sparky, go to practice," a soft voice interrupted.

Jason turned and grabbed both of Piper's hands. He loved the way her kaleidoscopic eyes were lightly glittering, even with the bandages around her face. "Are you sure? I don't want you to be lonely," Jason asked.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. Percy's right, you need the release from the pressure of events lately," Piper said, her head still resting on the pillow.

Jason sighed, sensing that he had lost his battle. "Fine. But you don't go anywhere, promise?"

Piper interlocked her pinky around his. "Promise."

Jason kissed her on her forehead and joined Percy at the door. Before they left, Percy leaned in and called out to Piper. "Thank you, Piper!" he said exasperatedly.

"Anytime!" she yelled lightly from her bed.

Percy closed the door happily and turned to Jason. "Do you have things to wear for practice, or do we have to stop at your place?"

"We're probably not even going to practice today. Just prepare for tomorrow, I bet," Jason retorted, starting to walk down the hallways that were thriving with workers, visitors, and patients. Even with the amount of people, a hushed silence remained over them, like a library on lockdown.

Percy laughed. "Can't wait for Hedge's speech tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to keep a straight face. I mean, what other coach tells their players to go all Chuck Norris and that 'DIE' is the magic word?"

"None. Only the one and _only_ Coach Hedge," Jason said as they passed through the door that put them in the secretary's room.

Things were chaotic in this room, that much Jason could tell. A janitor's cart was flipped over and spewed all over the floor, while a large bucket of mopping water was laying in a puddle, sorry, miniature lake, on the floor. Several of the neatly arranged plants had been caught in the mess, adding mud as well.

If that wasn't enough, the secretary Jason had met last night, Katie, was screaming her head off at the two janitors with crooked smiles, who didn't seem to mind her temper at all. Surprisingly, the rest of the workers were going on with their work as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"STOLLS! Are you even _listening_? If you spill that stupid bucket all over my plants _one_ more time, there _will _be hell to pay!" Katie yelled into their faces.

The shorter janitor lost it completely, and began to laugh, causing the taller to laugh.

"What?" Katie asked sharply.

"Um…you've got…a…a," the shorter one spurted between boyish giggles, holding on the other for support. "I'll, uh…let Travis…t-tell you!"

Katie's sharp eyes turned to the taller one. "Tell me _right now_, Stoll," she said threateningly.

The taller one, Travis, collapsed to the floor with laughter, causing the other to fall too. He pointed up at Katie, shaking with happiness. "Dirt! On your…your nose!"

Katie wiped her nose off with her shirt sleeve roughly, and turned to her office door. "You two are _so_ immature! I can't _wait_ until you guys get fired for screwing around like a bunch of _fourth graders_!" Then, she slammed the door, shaking the pictures on the walls.

Jason and Percy shared a look. They needed to ask that angry secretary to let them out without the paparazzi attacking them, and neither one of them wanted to do that now.

"You get to ask!" Percy called.

"Why? I say you!"

"Because you're more famous and need to avoid the media more, that's why!" Percy retorted. "I seriously need to spend a little less time with Annabeth, I'm over thinking things," he added.

Jason looked at the janitors, who were currently adding unreasonable amounts of dirty water to the unaffected plants and laughing about it. "Uh, no. You get to ask."

Just then, a woman and a man came from the door behind them, carrying a small newborn baby. Jason choked at the happy sight, instantly reminded of what he and Piper had just lost. Percy looked over to him with a glance that Jason couldn't quite read.

"Hey, you know, I'll just get it," Percy said lightly, walking over to one of the receptionist's desks.

Jason nodded, numb with emotion. He wanted to run back to Piper and comfort her again, not leave her to bear the pain alone. Guilt overcame him, and Jason absentmindedly reached for the door handle again.

"Jason! Where do you think you're going?" a demanding female voice said.

He let go of the handle immediately and turned to Annabeth, who was walking across the room, trying to avoid getting caught up in the mess. "Annabeth, I just feel so bad about leaving Piper there all alone," Jason explained.

"Why do you think I'm here then? Now get going," she said sharply.

Jason shot her a glare and stalked past her as she entered in her id and went through the door. He walked up to Percy, who was waiting for the okay to go. "Your girlfriend is _cranky_," Jason complained.

Percy shrugged. "She's been like that lately, ever since she-" Percy stopped abruptly.

"She what?" Jason asked.

Percy waved it off. "Nothing." he said shortly, and leaned over the counter to the black haired woman with a name tag that said Miranda. "Can we go _now_?"

"Just a sec," she responded. She pushed herself back in her chair and called out to the rooms behind. "Lou? Did you get response from Katie yet?"

A younger woman with brightly colored hair and tattooed symbols on her arms leaned out from a nearby office. "Yeah, she said security's out and ready. Took her long enough though, she was probably _dreaming_ about Travis's eyes or something," she said lazily.

"I heard that!" the head secretary's voice yelled from an office that was further down.

Miranda pushed herself up again to meet Percy at the desk. "Yes, you're free to leave," she said coolly.

"Thank you," Percy said, heading towards the door.

Jason followed, still numb from the sighting of the baby. He tried to prepare himself for the flashing cameras that were awaiting outside, but he knew he'd never be ready. A buff, intimidating woman with the word _security_ emblazoned on her shirt started to follow the two of them out the doors.

It was worse than Jason could have ever imagined. Although security was swarming to make a border between them and the paparazzi, the reporter yelled and screamed their questions in hopes of getting a quote. Cameras, so many cameras. Jason tried his best to ignore the words they spoke, but each was intent reopening the wound. Percy pushed Jason on until they got to his car.

Once Jason got in, he groaned, closed his eyes, and buried his head into the dashboard.

* * *

She wanted Jason back. She wanted him here, holding her, and sharing the pain. Because now that he was gone, she was all alone and left to her thoughts.

Piper couldn't describe the pain she was in, the horrifying experiences that she had gone through in the last hours. She remembered every single detail, and she wanted to forget all of it.

The emptiness in her stomach reminded her of the sight of her baby after the miscarriage. Piper had requested to not see it, but she had in the end anyway. Mangled, lifeless, not even human looking. Dead. Never to laugh, cry or love. Ever. Because the baby hadn't even _lived_ yet.

She felt hollow. That was all. Piper wanted to cry, scream, and cry some more. She needed Jason back, because when he was with her, the pain was a little less. Maybe it was the fact that she had spent the last three months with part of Jason growing inside her, and now that presence was gone, making her need him physically be with her.

Piper was a stupid, stupid woman. She shouldn't have let Jason's confession of his feelings get to her in that way. Piper knew it was coming. She could sense how he felt from the time they kissed at her lake and even before that too. Piper had never wanted to be the _other_ woman, the one that came between Jason and Reyna.

She wanted to take the bandages off and go home. But where was home? Home was with Jason, and he lived in the city. She could ask him to stay with her for a while, just to help her heal, but he had a life.

That's why she had agreed with Percy (A.K.A. Annabeth), and told Jason to go to practice, or just do _something_ else other than sit in this stupid hospital. Piper couldn't be selfish and keep him here all to herself. He had a big game tomorrow, the biggest one in his lifetime.

The hospital door quietly turned open, and Piper's attention was reverted to it. "Annabeth!" Piper cried.

"Hey," Annabeth said softly before sitting on the edge of Piper's bed. She looked like a mess. Her blonde hair was put up in a messy bun, her clothes light and flowy, and she had dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, which was odd, because Piper had noticed she had been spending a lot of time sleeping and resting lately.

"How are things?" Piper asked, playing with a bandage on the back of her hand.

Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something, but decided against it. "Fine, just tired, that's all." she said.

"You've been awfully tired for the past week, haven't you?" Piper said observantly, trying to get Annabeth to tell her.

Annabeth gave her a small smile. "It's that time of year, I guess," she said vaguely. "Are we watching the game tomorrow at my house or yours?" she asked.

"Oh, Annabeth, go to the game to watch Percy in real life. I don't want you missing out on something like that!" Piper pleaded, noticing the subject change.

Annabeth looked at Piper sympathetically. "I'd feel bad if I left you all alone tomorrow. It will take most of the day, and I'm supposed to watch you and make sure you're alright."

"I can take care of myself just fine. I'd go with you, but I just don't think I'm ready to face the…" Piper trailed off, as if saying the word paparazzi out loud would make them magically appear.

"I understand. The media are a bunch of heartless assholes," Annabeth said, curling up a the edge of the bed.

Piper rested her own head, remembering when she used to do this because of the strain of pregnancy. Add that with daily lessons with the old arrogant Jason, and she was practically a zombie by the end of the day.

But Piper missed being pregnant. She didn't mind the side effects, thinking back on it. The throwing up, the aches, the tiredness…

Piper jolted up, causing Annabeth to slightly shriek. "What's wrong?"

"Annabeth, you're pregnant, aren't you?"

* * *

**Thank you x 900,000,000 and more for every single review, favorite, and follow! **


	13. Teasing And Fighting

Annabeth closed her eyes, as if thinking about what to say next. "Yes, it's true," she said calmly, opening her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Piper asked, though she already knew the answer. She could feel the emotional pain rising in her body, like an inescapable tsunami.

Annabeth positioned herself so that she was sitting up. "I wanted to tell you. We were both going to tell you and Jason together. But then, well, things happened, and we decided it wouldn't be a good idea," Annabeth said, her voice cracking as she spoke.

Piper felt numb. She should be happy for her best friend, but all she felt was envy. And all that envy made Piper feel guilty. What kind of a friend was she? Piper tried for a smile. "That's great, Annabeth. You and Percy are going to be parents!"

"Piper, you don't understand," Annabeth said, the pain evident in her voice, "We tried for a baby because we didn't want you to feel like you were going through parenthood all by yourself. We'd talked about children before, but the time wasn't ever right, but then it was. And now, all we've done is make things harder on you!"

She didn't know how to respond. All this time, they'd been doing things to help her. _Literally_, doing things. All. For. Her. Only for everything to go wrong. "I'm happy for you," Piper said lamely, trying to put enthusiasm in her voice.

"I don't want you to have to pretend."

Piper pulled herself up, ignoring the stabbing pains of the bandages. She grabbed Annabeth's shoulders. "I'm not. Now, let's talk about this baby."

Annabeth smiled hesitantly. "What do you mean? Are you kicking me out of the house?"

"No, silly girl, I'm talking about the future! Details, details!" Piper chided, straightening out the stiff hospital sheets.

Annabeth blushed. "The future? Well, I suppose in seven months I will have a baby," she said vaguely.

Piper pushed her lightly. "You were never good at playing stupid. I suggest you leave that to Percy."

"What do you want to know then?" Annabeth asked.

Piper almost face palmed. "Has he proposed? Marriage? You know, I know the perfect person to be your maid of honor," Piper said casually.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "No, he has certainly _not _proposed! I would've told you right away! And you know that you would be my maid of honor, I wouldn't second guess it for anything!" she said, blushing furiously.

Piper leaned back on the bed. "Good, I will look forward to it. What is the theme going to be?"

"Piper McLean! I still have this," she said, gesturing to her stomach, "to get through first! Then, I will worry about a wedding. Think baby showers. Besides, I could turn this conversation around," Annabeth said mysteriously.

"And how would you go about that?" Piper retorted, taking a drink from her water bottle.

Annabeth took a piece of toast from Piper's breakfast plate. "I don't know…Maybe…Piper Grace?"

"You did not just say that!" Piper shouted, feeling the heat rise rapidly in her cheeks.

Annabeth simply smiled and took a bite of the toast. "I most certainly did, Mrs. Grace." she said sassily.

"Annabeth Jackson!"

"Piper Grace!"

"Annabeth Jack-"

"Girls, I'm going to have to ask you to quiet down or else visitors will have to leave," the nurse named Kayla said as she entered the room for her hourly checkup.

Annabeth groaned in embarrassment and buried her head into the blankets, mumbling about needing to get new friends. Piper smiled and greeted the blonde nurse. "Hey, sorry about that. We didn't disturb anybody or anything, did we?"

Kayla smiled kindly, and Piper realized that she was pretty young to be a nurse. "It's no problem, I could only hear you when I got near to the door. I just wanted to remind you, that's all. Now, are you having any aches or pains?"

* * *

"Now, what do you do when the score is completely failing for our side, Dakota?" Coach Hedge asked one of Jason's teammates, swinging his baseball bat around like he was going to attack a locker.

Instead of practice, the whole team was to report down to the locker rooms to discuss tactics for tomorrow. Jason and Percy were sitting on a bench near the back, trying to avoid being called on to answer a question. The locker room was heavily decorated in blue and gold, and the heat was on a little too high for Jason's liking. He felt like it was summer in the locker room, which was not a normal thing to feel.

Dakota shook his bottle of Kool-Aid around, watching it slosh. "Uh, work harder?"

"NO!" Hedge yelled, causing the whole team to scoot back on their benches. Percy started to snicker.

"Shut-up, Percy! You're going to get us in trouble!" Jason whispered, but it was too late.

Coach Hedge turned his baseball bat on them. "You got something to say, Jackson and Grace?"

Percy put on a poker face. "No, Coach. Please continue on," he said in an odd accent, but thankfully Hedge didn't catch it.

He gave them both an approving look and continued walking his short stature down the rows of benches. He swung his baseball bat around wildly, occasionally hitting a locker and sometimes a player. Jason had always wondered why Coach Hedge carried around a baseball bat when he was a football coach, but Jason wasn't about to ask for fear of being the next object to be hit.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," Hedge gave both of them a glare so hilarious looking that Percy buried his head in his hands. "Dakota, you are wrong. When the score is down, it's time to take any measure possible! If that means a roundhouse kick, then do it!"

One of Jason's teammates near the front, Chris, raised his hand tentatively. "Uh, isn't that illegal? Last time we did what you told us to, we got a bunch of penalties…"

"You know what you guys need? A karate marathon to learn some new moves! This is ridiculous!" Hedge mumbled to himself loudly. He pulled out his megaphone, and the whole team groaned.

"Seriously, Coach Hedge?" Butch, a defensive player complained out loud.

He shouldn't have said anything, because that only encouraged Hedge even more to use it. "Alright, Eagles! Listen, or die! Your only assignment for tonight is to watch mixed martial art championships and pick up on some moves! Come back prepared, and also, no drinking and coming to the game with a hangover, Dakota and Pollux!" he shouted in to the megaphone.

Dakota and Pollux high-fived each other, and Jason was pretty sure neither of them were planning on following the rules tonight. The team got up and gathered around Jason in expectation. Percy sent him a reassuring smile, and Jason gestured the team to put their hands to the middle.

"Okay, guys. We got that game tomorrow, the Warriors don't have a chance in hell! Am I right?" Jason shouted.

"Yeah!" The team chanted back simultaneously, beginning to move the stack of hands up and down.

"Who's going to be coming home with the Game of Champion's trophy?

"Us! The Tiber Eagles!

Jason smiled and brought their hands above their heads. "Damn straight! Who are we?"

"THE TIBER EAGLES!" They all yelled, then threw their hands back, finishing the chant. Everyone began to take their stuff out of their lockers, chattering about the game tomorrow and what they planned on doing tonight.

Jason didn't grab anything in particular, instead heading straight out for Percy's car. He wanted to get back to the hospital as soon as possible. He passed through the heavily decorated blue hallways and out of the stadium and into the parking lot.

He wondered if Piper was doing okay. Was she fine with just Annabeth? Had Annabeth already left by now? Was she lonely? Jason didn't know the answer to any of these questions, so that just motivated him to get to her even more so.

Percy's green sports car in sight, Jason picked up his pace. He passed by a large white suburban, when suddenly a fist came flying at his face, almost knocking him to the pavement.

"What the hell was-" Jason shouted, only to be interrupted by a very familiar looking man with extremely blinding teeth. Jason knew he'd seen him somewhere, he just couldn't place it.

"Who do you think you are, stealing my girlfriend?" the man spat, glaring at Jason while popping his knuckles.

Jason reasoned out his options, and decided that it was probably not the best idea to get in a fight while Piper was in the hospital and already under a lot of emotional stress. Plus, he had the game tomorrow. But what this guy said really bothered him. "I'm pretty sure I haven't stolen anyone's girlfriend for the past few months. I think you have the wrong man," Jason said as calmly as he could.

The man roughly pulled something out of his back pocket and shoved it into Jason's face. "Oh, yeah? Is that what you think, pretty boy? Then tell me, what do you think you're doing, getting my girlfriend knocked up?"

Jason focused on the paper in front of his face and recognized it as a celebrity magazine. On the front cover was one of the leaked pictures of him and Piper at her house kissing by the lake, with other photos proving Piper's pregnancy surrounding it. Jason felt a pang in his chest at that, but he pushed it away, he had to defend Piper.

"Who are you anyway, before you start accusing me of things?" Jason asked, ignoring the pain from the punch.

The man threw the magazine on the ground in frustration. "I'm Dylan Miller, the teen pop star singer! _And_, I'm Piper McLean's boyfriend! I know you think you're some hot football player, but you had no business in her pants, you son of a bitch!"

The pieces began to match up in Jason's head. This was the guy who had destroyed Piper's love life, who had cheated on her so many times and had basically been with her for the fame boost. This was also the man Piper had compared Jason to on the first night they had met. Wow, Piper was the best thing that had ever happened to Jason. He couldn't believe that he had once been like this.

Jason narrowed his eyes at Dylan. "First of all, I do know you. You're the asshole who cheated on Piper! You don't deserve her, you never did. I don't either, but she is the most amazing woman in this world and I'm lucky to have what I do with her. I didn't steal your girlfriend, you lost her all by yourself. Piper and I aren't even together, so why don't you just go screw yourself and stay out of other people's business?" Jason said, walking away just in case his emotions happened to get out of control.

"I like how you're avoiding the real problem here! You slept with my girlfriend and knocked her up! You ruined her life, not me! So just give her back like a civilized man, you know she would rather have me," Dylan said arrogantly, following Jason.

Jason spun around, completely losing it and punching him so hard in the chest that Dylan smacked into the pavement immediately after. Jason hovered over him. "You stay away from Piper, got it? If she wants you back, she'll go get you. But right now, leave her alone, because you don't know a thing about her. You don't appreciate who she is. You just care about what she looks like and how much sex and fame you can get from her. So, _stay away_."

Before Dylan could respond, Jason turned around and walked off towards the car. He was almost there when Dylan called to him as he stood back up. "Piper will come back to me, she always does," he said cockily.

Jason lunged, but someone grabbed him from behind. "Jason, stop. He's not worth it," Percy said, pulling him over to the passenger side.

Jason relaxed and sat inside, still fuming about the nerve of the Dylan Miller. Percy sat in the driver's side and started the car and started to drive out.

"Percy?"

Percy gave Jason a side glance. "Yeah?"

"Piper is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I just want the world to know that. I'm so glad I'm not like that anymore," Jason said.

Percy clapped his shoulder. "Me too, Jason. Me too."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters! **

**Thank you, amazing, wonderful, and everything nice people who have supported me this far! This is officially my most reviewed story!**


	14. Grape Juice's Promise

Jason hurried back into the hospital, anxious to see Piper again.

He didn't pay much attention to the lobby, other than the fact that the mess from earlier today had not been cleaned up much other than the plants removed and a sign cautioning against the obviously wet floor.

Jason pulled out the visitor's card that the hospital had provided him with and slid it into the slot, completely abandoning Percy. He would find Jason eventually. Actually, Jason wasn't even sure that Percy had left the car.

He pushed past the few people streaming through the quiet hallways until he came upon Piper's door, which was slightly cracked open. He could hear Piper's laughter along with Annabeth's, and it sounded like they were having a great time.

"So, Mrs. Piper Grace, how will you be spending your weekend?" Annabeth asked in a teasing voice.

Did Jason just hear that right? He wasn't sure, but he knew he didn't exactly understand the female species 100% of the time. He leaned closer to the door.

Piper laughed for a moment before answering. "Actually, Mrs. Jackson, I was hoping to go on a date with Mr. Grace. But, I just don't think we'll ever be officially together," she said dramatically.

Okay, the anesthetics must have been seriously affecting Piper's rational thinking, because there was no way that she just said that. Because honestly, when Jason had tried to make it official, Piper had said no way. And asking her to be his girlfriend while she was recovering in a hospital was just weird, and inappropriate. Unless she was on her deathbed, which thank the gods she wasn't.

Annabeth laughed but was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. Things were silent for a moment, until Annabeth was seemingly done reading a text message. "I have to go, Percy's waiting for me in the parking lot. Which means…"

"Jason will be here," Piper finished. Jason sensed that now was the time to act like he had not been in fact eavesdropping on their odd conversation.

He reached out and pushed open the door at almost the exact time that Annabeth did. She slightly jumped, but recovered quickly. "Hey, Jason. Piper is inside. Bye!" she called out to Piper as she left.

Jason realized that Annabeth looked like a mess as she walked off, but he pushed it aside and walked into the room. The blinds were closed and the T.V. on low volume while Piper was sitting on the hospital bed, eating a chocolate chip cookie. She smiled at the sight of Jason as he laid down beside her on the bed.

"Hey, Sparky. Want a cookie?" she said brightly, holding out one to him.

Jason gently shoved her bandaged hand away. "No, the coach will get mad at me if I eat unhealthily," he said lamely.

Piper shrugged and popped the entire thing in her mouth. "More for me and less for you," she said teasingly.

"Not anymore. Give me all of them!"

"But you said-"

Jason kissed her to distract her while he took the whole plate off her bedside table. "Thank you, Mrs. Grace," he said victoriously.

Piper flushed a deep red and turned away from him. "You were _not_ supposed to hear that! Eavesdropper!"

"I heard my name, so of course I _had_ to listen!" Jason defended himself, placing the cookie plate back on the table.

"_What_ever! Oh my god, this is so mortifying!" Piper said, pulling the pillow over her head.

Jason carefully tried to tug the pillow away, but Piper wouldn't let it budge. He let go and leaned back on Piper's hospital bed in fake defeat. "Fine then, I suppose I won't get to ask you," he said vaguely, trying to get her curiosity.

It worked, and Piper cautiously peeked out from the pillow. "Ask me what?" she questioned with interest.

"No, I think it can wait now," Jason said, staring at the T.V.

Piper pushed the pillow off, sat up, and crossed her arms. "Jason Grace, you tell me what you were going to ask right now, or else." she threatened.

"Or else what?"

Piper lifted up a little red button from a cup holder beside her. "Or else I call Kayla to come have you kicked out."

"You wouldn't. You know that you would be lonely," Jason pointed out, taking the button from her and laying it on his side.

Piper grabbed his shoulder and shook them. "Just tell me! Please?" she pleaded, looking him right in the eye with those kaleidoscopic orbs that had always awed him.

"Well, I don't know. A hospital isn't really the best place to do it," Jason said, "But now is as good as time as any other."

Piper smiled and turned off the T.V.. "Go on," she urged.

Jason grasped both of her delicate hands. "Piper, will you be-"

"Okay, Miss McLean, I will need to talk to you in private," a voice said, interrupting from the door. Piper's face fell, and she looked over to see who it was.

Jason followed her lead and realized that it had been Piper's doctor, Dr. Solace, who had walked into the room and ruined the moment. Jason sighed and got up from the bed to leave the room, while Dr. Solace gave him an apologetic look. He was about to close the door when Piper called out to him.

"Actually, Dr. Solace, is it okay if Jason stays here? If this is about the baby, it's his business too," Piper asked nicely, but made it firm that she wanted him to stay.

Dr. Solace nodded. "Yes, that will be fine if that's what you wish."

Piper smiled at Jason reassuringly, and Jason closed the door but kept himself inside. He sat down on the chair next to Piper's bed, deciding that it wouldn't be very appropriate for him to return to his spot on Piper's bed with the doctor about to talk to them about something serious.

He felt almost a sense of dread fill his chest and heart as he sat in silence and waited for Dr. Solace to begin to talk. Dr. Solace brought up a chair and sat directly in front of Jason so that he could look at them both at the same time.

Dr. Solace brought out a few sheets of paper and looked over to Piper. "I don't know what the best way to approach this would be, as this is the first time I've ever been in a situation like this being a fairly new doctor, so excuse me if I do something wrong. Tell me, even," he said calmly.

Piper reached over and clamped Jason's hand. "Okay, we will," Piper responded smoothly, but Jason could feel the tension from her grip.

"Piper," Dr. Solace paused, "And Jason," he added, "I'm going to ask what your decision is going to be on the baby's body."

"We want a proper funeral, of course," Jason replied automatically. "I'll pay all the expenses, it won't be a problem."

Jason looked over to Piper for confirmation, and he could tell she was trying to keep herself together. "I agree with Jason, we'll bury the baby on my property, by the lake, if that's alright."

Dr. Solace nodded, and wrote down what they said. "Okay, but one more thing. You do understand that the fetus must be cremated, correct?"

Tears began to glisten in Piper's eyes. "Yes, of course. Is that all that you needed?"

"Almost. I just need your signatures to authorize the hospital," Dr. Solace said, shuffling through a few papers and handing them to Jason and Piper with a pen.

Jason barely skimmed over the documents, just signing his name where needed and passing the papers to Piper for her to sign. Within a few minutes, every sheet was signed and in Dr. Solace's possession.

Dr. Solace gave them a small smile, thanked them, and left the room. As soon as he was gone, Jason hopped up on the bed and hugged Piper's bandaged body again. She wasn't crying, but there were tears sliding down her face as the reality of last night hit them both again.

After a while, Jason turned on the T.V. and opened the blinds. The sky was downcast and dark, and Jason realized that the day was almost over. The relentless paparazzi was still down in the parking lot, but most of them had left already. He hoped that they would stay gone, as they would be bringing Piper home tomorrow.

Piper called the kitchen to come bring her something, and Jason sat back down with her on the bed. Piper turned to him with a concerned look. "Did something happen today?"

"No, why?" Jason asked, remembering the fight with Dylan. He didn't want to tell her about it though.

Piper sighed. "I can read it in your face. I know you."

"It's nothing you need to worry about right now. I'll tell you later, okay?" Jason said, feeling guilty for not confiding in her.

Piper held out her unscathed pinky. "Promise?"

"Promise." Jason agreed as he took her finger.

A light haired girl came in with a tray of two cups and a jar of grape juice. She looked off an ivory note card. "Miss Piper McLean, room w110. Is that correct?"

Piper smiled and held out her hands invitingly. "Yes, that's me," she confirmed. The girl handed her the cups and the jar.

Jason couldn't shake off the feeling that he'd seen this girl before. As the girl turned to leave, Jason called out to her. "Hey, I know you from somewhere. Who are you?"

The girl turned around in confusion, stroking the silver tray. "Um, I'm Gwen Johnson…I think I remember you too…"

"You're one of Reyna's friends," Jason said, suddenly remembering her from a get together Reyna had held at her house one time.

"Yeah, now I remember you! Well, see you around," Gwen said, dismissing herself and closing the doors again.

Jason thought back to Reyna's party a few years ago, when she had invited all her friends from high school and college to hang out. Then again, Jason didn't want to remember it, because he remembered flirting with a lot of Reyna's close friends and sleeping with them later on. Wow, he must have really been a jerk to do that to Reyna at her own party.

Jason turned back to Piper, who was sitting up across from him with two cups of grape juice in her hands. He laughed and took one from her. "What's wrong with wine?" he asked.

"I'm not supposed to have alcohol with my medications, that's what's wrong," Piper said as if it should be obvious. She adjusted some of her bandages with one hand on her stomach beneath her loose hospital gown.

He was once again reminded of how much of a gift Piper was to him. Not very many people could go through as much as Piper had in the last twenty-four hours and still look as beautiful as she did. Inside, and out.

"So, what's the occasion?" Jason asked curiously.

Piper smiled and raised her Styrofoam cup. "A new beginning. Jason, let's start over, from the beginning," she suggested.

Jason met her with his own cup. "Yes, a new beginning," he said, then they both took a drink of the juice. Jason set his down on his lap. "But that doesn't mean I have to go back to being an idiot, does it?"

She laughed and set hers down too. "No way. That's why it's a new, different beginning, Sparky."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, the end.**

**Thank you for all the favorites, follows, and reviews!**

**And uh, I have a problem...See, I'm supposed to be grounded, and I can't guarantee that I will be able to update so...OMG I'M SO SORRY!**


	15. Upsetting Love

"Piper, I better get going or else I won't want to get up in the morning to catch the bus," Jason said as he got up from the bed and kissed Piper's cheek.

Piper smiled sadly, not wanting to see him go. The last few hours had been some of the best in her entire life. The bed already felt cold from his absence. "Okay, good luck!"

"Thanks, Piper." Jason said as he straightened his clothes and walked over to the door. He suddenly smacked his forehead. "I almost forgot! I have your ticket to get into the game after you get released from the hospital," he said, pulling an envelope from his back pocket.

He started to walk back over, but Piper help up her sore hands. "Jason, I don't need a ticket. But thank you," she said calmly, not sure what his reaction would be. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten to tell him that she wasn't going.

"What do you mean, you don't need a ticket?" Jason asked in disbelief.

Piper messed with the pillow, pretending to adjust it. "I'm not going to the game. I can't handle it, not yet. Can you understand? I want to go, but I don't think I can," she explained, avoiding Jason's eyes.

Jason looked crestfallen as he put the envelope back in his pocket. "Oh, okay. I understand," he said hollowly, "Is Annabeth coming or is she staying with you?"

"She's going, I told her to. It wouldn't be fair of me to keep her from supporting Percy just because I'm not ready to face the world yet," Piper answered, laying back down on the bed and reaching for the remote.

Jason walked back over to her. "Okay. You always think of everybody else, don't you?" he said in a joking tone. "By the way, am I the only one who thinks that Percy and Annabeth are acting weird?"

"Oh…that," Piper said cautiously, turning to look at Jason. "Annabeth wouldn't tell me either, but I figured it out in the end. Jason, they're having a baby," Piper said evenly.

Jason's eyes widened, like everything was finally making sense. "Oh my god. No wonder Annabeth was such a grouch. And Percy with his odd comments…Why didn't they tell us?"

Piper sighed and gripped the remote tightly. "Because it was a bad time to tell us, that's why. They were going to, but then…"

"I understand, and it's not your fault," Jason said firmly grabbing her hand.

She closed her eyes, pushing the pain away. "Okay. We'll talk about the rest later. But you need to go now, or else you will be tired tomorrow!" Piper said, ushering Jason away though she didn't want to.

"Fine then, Miss Bossy," he said jokingly as he walked over to the door. He opened it, but then paused and looked back at her. "I love you, Piper."

Piper felt her heart explode with all kinds of happiness, and she was pretty sure that she was blushing big time. "I l-love you, too," she managed to stutter out.

Jason smiled and then closed the door, leaving Piper in a stunned and flattered state. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, right? They'd both admitted to loving each other before, so why did she feel so…different?

The answer came almost immediately. Because Piper didn't have to feel guilty anymore, she didn't have to worry about ruining Reyna's life. It was a new beginning with Jason, one without a baby, and one with definite change. Like a typical romance movie that she would watch on the Hallmark channel when she was bored.

One problem: Jason hadn't even asked her to be his girlfriend yet. Sure, she could ask, but Piper wanted to make sure that he really cared. She couldn't help but be reminded of old Jason, who purposely didn't date girls just for the sake of flirting with all of them and not being tied down. Old habits weren't all that hard to return to. Piper just wanted confirmation that her lessons had reverted him.

Piper slid herself down on her bed, making sure not to catch her bandages on the sheets and pull them off on accident. She should be gathering up her things to get ready to be checked out of the hospital, but there wasn't much and she wasn't in a big hurry to get home. Annabeth would be here in the morning anyway, probably early so that she could get to Lethe for the game.

She flipped on the T.V., not bothering to change it from the History channel, where Annabeth had last left it. Sometimes an interesting show would come on, but Piper just had it on for the sake of having it on.

The hospital was nice, but Piper couldn't wait to get out. She wanted to stop being reminded of why she was here, and how that was going to affect her later. Sooner or later she was going to have to face the press, and though she told Jason that she wasn't ready, she just wanted to get it over with. So what if they spread lies and made wrong assumptions about her? It's not like it was going to ruin her life forever. Piper had never let the paparazzi control her emotions before, so why start now?

She wondered what her father was feeling like, how he viewed his daughter's situation. Maybe he didn't even care, to wrapped up in his next movie while he was filming in…France? Was that where he said he would be? It didn't matter, he was always somewhere else rather than close to her. It had always been that way, ever since she was a young girl.

No, Piper was sure he cared about her, he just didn't have the time to talk. And that was normal, so she shouldn't be too worried about it. He had, after all, bought her a specialized dream house and surrounding land and listened to her problems when she had found out about being pregnant. Well, he'd listened for about forty seconds anyways, but that still counted, didn't it?

The buzzer intercom on her bed beeped, interrupting her thoughts. "Miss McLean?" a female voice rang through.

Piper hit the button to respond. "Yes?"

"A man by the name of Dylan Miller would like entrance into your room, he says you know him. Is this true?"

Piper's heart nearly stopped. What on earth would Dylan be doing at her hospital, and what would he want to do with her? Shakily, she hit to respond again. "Y-yes, we're familiar."

"Do you give permission for him to visit?" the secretary asked cautiously.

She hesitated before pressing the button. "I suppose it's alright. Send security to escort him though in case things get…"

"I can do that, Miss McLean. There should be no reason to worry, not in my hospital," the secretary assured, ending the intercom signal.

Piper waited in anxiety, lecturing to herself about her stupidity. What was she thinking? At least security would be present, but she could never guess what Dylan would do. She didn't even know why he was here, first of all. They had nothing to do with each other anymore, so why would he feel the need to visit?

She heard shuffling down the hall, and Piper held her breath and braced herself for the possible storm. The door opened and the very person that had cheated on her entered, flanked by two vicious looking security guards.

Dylan, with his blinding white smile and incredibly good looks, leaned in his arrogant way on the edge of her bed. "Hey, Hottie," he said coolly, like nothing had ever happened between them.

Piper sent him a glare that she'd often practiced on Jason. "Dylan." she said shortly.

"Baby, so tell me what you've been doing during our brief time apart, why don't you?" he asked smoothly, moving forward to Jason's chair. He sat in it, and Piper's jaw tightened. He noticed this. "Am I not allowed to sit here?"

Piper forced herself to breathe and still keep under control. "I would prefer that you not. And if you didn't catch it, we have nothing together, so it's none of your business what I do and don't," she snapped.

Dylan got up from the chair and stood by her bed with his arms crossed, still smiling like the damn idiot he was. "Honey, what do you think you're doing with that Grace? You think he's any better than me? Obviously you think that he's better in bed, since you got yourself knocked up by him."

"You think that who I chose to be with depends on who's better in _bed_?" Piper said, completely losing it. The security guards stepped forward a little. "Jason is not you in any way. He's different and he's changed from the first time we met! And I love him!" she yelled.

His dazzling smile didn't even drop one centimeter. "Baby, you think that you changed him? I bet you thought the same about me at one point!" he said amusingly. "But that didn't stop me from sleeping with other girls, did it? Girl, you're just with him for the fame and the sex, admit it!"

"Get out! Get out of my room and go screw yourself, you son of a bitch!" Piper screamed, pointing violently to the door.

Dylan winked and handed her an envelope before holding his arms out to willingly let the security haul him off. "You just look at that, okay? And Baby, anytime you want to have a little fun, well, you've got my number," he said seductively.

"OUT!" Piper yelled, and the security pulled him out and shut the door.

As soon as the door closed, Piper collapsed into tears, thinking of how stupid of a woman she was for letting Dylan come in to her room. She was too afraid to look at the envelope's contents. She didn't want to know what Dylan had put in there.

Sighing with tears still falling down her face, Piper turned off the lights and T.V. and tried to get some sleep. Tried, because the stupid envelope was gnawing at her brain, urging her to open it just for the sake of curiosity.

After what seemed like hours, Piper gave in. She flipped on her lamp and grabbed the envelope, madly tearing at it. Inside was a brightly lit picture, like it was taken with a flash camera in the dark. Judging from the slightly sticky ink and the date on the corner of the photo, this picture was taken and developed just thirty minutes ago.

But that wasn't her concern. It was the picture itself.

* * *

Jason didn't know what to think, or what to do.

Right as he had walked out of the hospital, some tall blonde lady had basically assaulted him right in front of all the paparazzi. Now about six different magazines had a picture of him being forced to kiss some random woman. Jason was sure that it had been set up, the magazines needed some juicy scandalous information to downgrade the quarterback right before the game, of course.

Jason wasn't sure, but he thought that he had seen that jerk Dylan from the quarter of his eye, smirking. Probably upset because he had lost and now wanted his revenge. That's probably who arranged this whole thing, so that Piper would think Jason was cheating on her.

Should he call and tell Piper? He didn't want her to be upset, and he didn't want to wake her up or disturb her. She would only be worried, adding to the already large amount of stress she had. He would talk to her tomorrow on the bus on the way to Lethe, he decided. Jason wasn't going to keep this from her, and he'd much rather that she found out from him in the morning than from some stupid magazine headline.

Let her rest in her peace for now, because Jason sure wasn't. He was tossing and turning, the words and phrases he would use to explain to Piper reeling through his mind like a tornado combined with a hurricane. Most of the team would have the game on their minds, worrying about if they would mess up or who would win.

Jason could care less about the stupid Game of Champions at this point. Piper wasn't coming to watch anyways, which was a little bit upsetting. At least she would probably be watching at home, because Jason felt like he needed her support. He was too fearful that he might go changing back to the old Jason. Especially from what the magazines would be printing and broadcasting soon.

He stared out into his dark, shadowed room, the only light coming from the city down below and the moon above. Jason was about to get up and close his curtains to eliminate the light when his phone vibrated from his bedside table.

Jason snatched it up quickly, worried because it was Piper. "Is something wrong?" he asked immediately.

"I know we aren't exactly together, but Jason, I expected better of you. I just want you to explain why exactly you were kissing some woman tonight," Piper said, the hurt so evident in her voice.

* * *

**Sorry for the delay, but here it is! Thank you for all reviews, favorites, and follows! And most of all: Patience!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.**


	16. Die, Or Well, DIE

Needless to say, Jason did not get any sleep the previous night.

Even though he'd explained to Piper what had happened, she'd seemed skeptical. But she was kind of in an odd mood also, judging from her reaction to everything. Jason wondered what had triggered that.

Jason was angry, and that's what basically kept him up all night, plotting his nonexistent revenge. Who did Dylan think he was? The one girl, the one amazing life changing girl that Jason had managed to attract was now a little bit tarnished by his fake disloyalty. And Jason got what she meant. They weren't technically dating, but they had a 'thing' so it still counted.

He was going to ask her to be his girlfriend, but _no_, someone or something always has to interrupt. It wasn't the doctor's fault, he supposed, that had interrupted when Jason had first tried to ask. But it was just the other little things that messed things up. Like purposely making him look like a player, for instance.

That's why Jason had to zombie his way to the bus this morning, nearly collapsing onto Percy as they boarded. Jason pretty much just blocked out the paparazzi that was attempting to get their pictures of the team boarding the bus.

"Man, what's wrong with you?" Percy asked, practically carrying Jason to his seat at the very end of the bus. "Acting like this is normal for him," Percy said, motioning to Nico, who was already passed out on the second to last seat, "but you, no."

Jason crumpled into the blue seat and stared at Percy with a blank expression. "What?" he asked, half asleep.

Percy threw an open packet of crackers that had been in the drink compartment at Jason's face, effectively hitting him in the forehead. Jason scrambled up, batting away the cracker remains. "What's wrong with you? Why would you do that?" Jason complained.

"Good, you're awake. Now tell me all your life's problems," Percy said in a victorious voice, looking ahead to the front of the bus as he sat in the seat across the aisle.

"I don't see why I should share," Jason said, "I mean, you didn't tell me that Annabeth was pregnant," he said casually, pretending to be occupied with looking out the window.

That shut Percy right up. "Well, uh, that's different…And how did you find out, anyway?"

"I have my resources."

"Piper figured it out and she told you, obviously. And if you figured it out by yourself, then Jason, my friend, you should really stop watching chick flicks. Because I would still not know if Annabeth hadn't told me," Percy said, reaching into his sports bag.

"Hey, I haven't watched a chick flick since…well, Piper thinks they're stupid," Jason defended, eying the front of the bus for Coach Hedge. It was hard to spot him because he was so short. The baseball bat helped, though.

Percy laughed and pointed a bottle of blue Gatorade at him mockingly. "That's funny. Who knew it took a chick to say chick flicks were stupid?"

Coach Hedge started to violently bang his bat on the front seat, probably damaging it for life. "Any junk food is mine, got it? If you refuse, that's okay. I just learned a new kick that I'd love to try out! Now shut up and don't bother me, or else suffer my wrath!" Hedge threatened as he sat down in his seat and held the bat over the bus driver's head, commanding him to drive.

Right as the bus set in motion, Dakota turned around to Jason and Percy from two seats up. "Hey guys, do you think that alcohol counts as junk food? Eh, probably doesn't matter. Coach is too busy watching mixed martial arts on his IPad."

"Dude, why would you even ask?" Percy questioned Dakota in amazement. Nico groaned and said something about shutting up before falling back asleep again.

"Good point." Dakota responded, turning back to Pollux with laughter.

Jason threw a few cracker crumbles at Percy. "Congratulations, now we're going to play something awful tonight because of that!"

The bus sped up as they exited Tiber and got on the interstate to Lethe. Percy reclined his seat and stared up at the metal ceiling. "Oh, c'mon, Jason. It's just Dakota and Pollux. Alcohol isn't going to affect their systems one bit."

"Whatever, man. I'm blaming it on you if we lose tonight though," Jason said. "Hey, has Annabeth texted you yet?" he asked, changing the subject.

Subconsciously, Percy pulled out his phone and checked it. "No, why?"

"Just wondering if Piper was still at the hospital," Jason responded, following Percy's lead and reclining in his chair. Jason looked out the window to see the beginning of a horde of paparazzi. He groaned and pulled down the blind, even though he knew the windows were tinted well enough for him not to be seen.

"Sounds like the media has arrived," Percy said jokingly. "So, what really did happen between you and Piper that caused you to not sleep?"

Jason grabbed a bottle of water and returned to his reclining position. "You should've let me take that Dylan Miller. You know what he did? He set me up so that I would look bad!"

"How?" Percy asked, leaning forward in his seat out of interest.

"So I was leaving the hospital, right? When out of nowhere, this blonde chick just grabs me and kisses me in front of everyone!" Jason said, the anger prevalent in his voice.

"Did you kiss her back?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "I don't know, you tell me," he said sarcastically.

"I'll take that as a no," Percy said, "But what happened after that?"

Jason clutched the water bottle, half tempted to make it explode. "Somehow, Piper found out and she called me. I was going to tell her, but I guess it just didn't work out that way. Anyway, I explained what happened and she reasoned it out relatively well, I think. But it's just the fact that I established the tiny amount of distrust, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand. But Piper is level-headed, she won't be too worked up about it. Why don't you try to get some sleep now? It's just as unhealthy for you to be sleep deprived as it is for Dakota and Pollux to drink," Percy suggested.

Jason decided that Percy was grudgingly right and turned over in his seat, facing the covered window. Even though his mind was still filled with worry, it had helped to talk it over with Percy. Sooner than Jason expected, he had drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"What is an eagle? An eagle is a vicious, self-centered, violent bird that takes what it wants when it wants and you can do nothing about it. What is a warrior? Someone who dies. Now tell me, who's the obvious winner here? That's right, we, the Tiber Freaking Eagles are. Which is why the Sparta Warriors are going to die tonight, like they're destined to! Now let's get ourselves out there and dominate the battlefield!" Coach Hedge announced for his pre-game speech.

Cameras flashed, and the team gathered around with their hands in the middle, looking to the coach expectantly. Hedge shimmied his short body into the huddle and put his hand on top. "On three, die. One-two-three- DIE!"

The team went wild, screaming and yelling in anticipation for the game that was soon to begin. More cameras flashed, and Jason and Percy led the team out of the locker rooms.

Piper almost flipped the T.V. off. Almost.

But she didn't because the whole team was not made of Jason Grace, there were other players that Piper would be supporting, and she couldn't abandon the team just because of that. Piper wasn't that kind of a person. So instead she put it on mute.

Although she had spent an hour on the phone with Jason last night as he explained the story behind that cursed picture (Which had been shredded, drowned in water, dried, and thrown in the fireplace, by the way), Piper couldn't help but be a little bit upset with him. Why hadn't he just called her right away? Why did he wait for her to confront him over the phone?

It just didn't make sense. Piper loved Jason, but if he couldn't call her and tell her about a problem, then something needed to be fixed. They needed to have a serious talk.

Or maybe she was just overreacting like she had yesterday night. It seemed like so far ago, but she was already using it as a learning experience. Piper just needed to calm down and reason everything out.

Piper's phone rang from the couch cushion next to her, and she picked it up immediately upon seeing Annabeth's name. "Yeah?"

"Is everything going fine?" Annabeth said loudly into the phone.

In the background, noise was everywhere from fans cheering and screaming as the players took their spots on the field. "Yes, I'm perfect! Don't worry, just watch the game, okay Annabeth?"

"I just feel bad for leaving you at home all alone while I'm supposed to be supervising you! I feel irresponsible!"

"You're not in any way irresponsible," Piper assured firmly. "It's my decision, and you're respecting that. There's nothing wrong." she said, eating a few pieces of popcorn from the blue bowl on the coffee table.

Annabeth sighed, though Piper could barely hear it. "Fine, fine. But if you need immediate help, call Hazel, okay? She's closer than I am. And keep your phone on and with you at all times, you hear? You can never be too careful! Nothing stupid, also!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mother," she said sarcastically.

"Don't you sass me, Piper McLean! Now I'm going to watch the game. Remember what I said," Annabeth chastised.

"'Kay, bye!" Piper said, ending the call and throwing her phone to its place on the couch cushion.

Piper watched the game, but didn't really understand anything that was going on. So basically, she watched the scoreboard the entire time. Near the end of the first quarter, the Eagles were leading by just three points, the Warriors playing fiercely to keep up. The clock ended, and Piper got up as a commercial turned on.

She walked into the kitchen to find something to eat, preferably chocolate. Piper was tired of popcorn, and that was saying something because she loved it. Mainly, she was just trying to keep her mind off that little black wooden box upstairs in her room, waiting for Jason to come home.

Wait, to come home? This wasn't his home. Jason's home was in Tiber, in the city, high into the sky. Piper couldn't just assume that he would live with her in this country house.

Moving on, Piper really wanted to bury their baby. For a sense of finality, maybe. Or just that she felt guilty for leaving the box out like that. Piper knew that when she died, she wanted to be buried immediately, not sit out like a prop. She wanted her baby to rest in peace, that was all.

She didn't need some fancy funeral procession. All that she would need was herself and Jason. Piper already had called some of her farm hands to go dig an appropriately deep and large enough hole, which had been dug this morning before the game had begun.

Sighing, Piper tore a bag of chocolate chips that she had been saving for cookies out of her cupboard and took them to the couch. After eating about half the bag, Piper tossed them on the coffee table alongside the empty popcorn bowl and drifted off into a daze that was not quite sleep.

She didn't know how or why she suddenly felt the need to get up and look at the T.V., but she had some intuition that she should. Stretching, Piper rolled over and looked at the screen, her eyes trying to adjust to the light.

Piper realized that she had "slept" through the entire second quarter, half time, and first few minutes of third. The Eagles were just barely ahead, like it had been when Piper had last looked.

But there was something wrong. The Tiber Eagles looked defeated, like they had lost their light. Nobody was out on the fields, like there was a time out or something. The cameras zoomed up to Percy and a young player with di Angelo on the back of his jersey, who were walking back and forth on the sidelines in anxiety, arguing with the coach.

Piper couldn't find Jason anywhere. Frantically, Piper stumbled to get the remote and turned up the volume. Instantly, the reporter's voice filled the room.

"Still waiting for the response on the well-being on Jason Grace. Meanwhile, the game must continue in about thirty seconds, regardless. If Grace can't make it back in that time slot, Coach Hedge will have to send in Beckendorf as quarterback." the reporter informed as the camera zoomed to a closed room.

Piper froze, all the worst case scenarios running through her head. The reporter began to talk again, and Piper listened intently. "Just came in: Jason Grace is out due to a head injury. The doctors say he is not hurt, but Grace just does not have to ambition to get out here and play. Looks like we should be welcoming Charles Beckendorf into the game as Hedge talks to the referees."

So, from what Piper got, Jason hurt his head, is fine, but doesn't want to play anymore? Something was definitely wrong. This game was extremely important to him.

Not even bothering to turn off the T.V., Piper picked up her coat, game pass that Annabeth had given her just in case, and phone and ran out the door. Once she was out, she realized that she hadn't grabbed her keys.

She also realized that she would have to drive the pickup into Lethe. Wonderful. On the bright side, she had a spare set of keys in it.

Whatever, it worked and Piper wasn't going to complain as she hopped into the red pickup and drove out of her driveway as fast as possible without getting into another wreck.

* * *

**Thank you everyone for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! As with my other story, this one will soon come to an end too...but not for a few more chapters! **

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own what I don't, if that makes any sense.**


	17. Saving The Game

"Whoa, girl! Who do you think you are? You can't just walk into the recovery room!"

Piper shook her pass in front of the security guard's face. It had been like this throughout the whole way here. If this guy followed the norm, he would back off just like everyone else. Not quite the reaction she had been expecting from her first day back from the hospital. But then again, they probably just wanted Jason back on the field, and Piper was the person to get him to do it.

"I'm Piper McLean. Who do you think you are?" she snapped at him.

The guard's eyes widened and he opened the soundproof door for her. "I'm the security guard that is letting Piper McLean into here," he replied smartly.

Piper smiled and walked past him. "That's what I thought."

She was in a tiny corridor, just big enough to get a stretcher through. There were about three numbered doors on each side, and one at the very end of the hall. Piper studied the signs on each of the doors, and realized that they each had an occupancy tag on them. All said empty except for the end one, which said full. Satisfied at finding Jason's room, Piper marched straight down the hall and slammed open the door.

"Hey! I said I wanted to be left alone!" Jason yelled, flipping over in the bed and shoving the pillow over his head. He was dressed only in a pair of shorts and a sweaty undershirt.

"Jason Grace, you get your sorry ass out there and support your team," Piper said in a deadly voice.

Jason sprung up from the recovery bed, knocking the wet towel off his forehead. "Piper? What are you doing here?" he asked in amazement.

In response, Piper grabbed the bottle next to him and squirted him in the face. "Up! Get your gear on again!"

"Piper!" Jason complained, wiping the water from his face. "Besides, I can't just go out there and play," he objected.

"Oh, yes you can!" Piper responded in a strict voice, picking up his equipment and tossing it in his lap. He was acting like such a baby.

Jason sorted through it absentmindedly. "Pipes, I'm out for the game. That means no more playing. The doctors even said so. I don't have enough energy because I couldn't sleep last night. I was too worried about us and how Dylan is trying to ruin everything…I'm just not into the game today," he informed her.

Piper sighed and put her hands on her hips. "That's nice, but I told you last night a hundred times that nothing has changed between us. But here's the good news: You can play again! Now come on, get dressed! Your team is getting further and further behind by the minute!"

"I don't think I can play anymore."

"Jason, Jason, Jason," Piper said, walking over to him so that they were face to face. "I think you can," she told him softly.

Jason's mouth twitched, making that light scar almost disappear. "How?"

"Because I believe in you. Always have, always will. And I trust that you have the strength to bring the Tiber Eagles back for the win," Piper whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Why are you so god damn beautiful?"

Piper blushed, but kept her eye contact. "I don't know. Why _am_ I so god damn beautiful?" she said, vaguely aware of the cheering outside.

Jason smirked and pulled her closer so that she was practically on him. "I think somebody might be needing some lessons, don't you?"

"Will you be the teacher this time?" Piper asked, smiling, her face so close to his that she could breathe in his minty breath.

"Maybe…if I get a kiss," Jason suggested.

And suddenly their lips crashed together, the game forgotten completely. The only thing that mattered to Piper now was the love and emotion that could be felt from the heat of this kiss. Because this one was different. More loving, more syncopated, more sparks…everything. Piper had never done drugs, but she imagined that the feelings were very comparable, that's how amazing it was.

Piper pulled at Jason's shirt, not even pulling away from the kiss until the very last moment to get it off. Jason tugged at Piper's jeans, gently pushing her onto the bed. They both knew where this was going, and it didn't matter where they were or what time it was, because the only thing that mattered was how much they loved each other.

Both of them now in almost the bare minimum of clothes, Piper traced Jason's stomach as he deepened the kiss even more, if that was possible. Jason tightened his hold on Piper, pushing their bodies together as he tried to unsnap her bra…

"Oh my god! I am forever scarred!" a female voice screamed out.

Piper and Jason flung apart, Piper blushing madly as she hurried to pull on a random shirt, which she too late realized was Jason's, meaning he wouldn't have anything.

Somewhat dressed now, Piper looked around to the culprit of the voice. At the thankfully closed door stood a woman with spiky black hair who was about Piper's height. She wore ripped up dark jeans and a black shirt, which contrasted largely with her bright blue eyes.

Jason, who had pulled back on his shorts, stepped forward in embarrassment. "Uh, Thalia?"

The woman, Thalia, pointed her finger at Jason. "There are some things that you can't unsee, and one of them is your little brother about to have sex with his girlfriend in the _recovery_ room, for god's sakes!"

Piper crossed her arms across her chest, and walked over to Jason. She was sure her face was still red from that mortifying discovery. "Hi, I'm Piper. And I'm assuming that you're Thalia, Jason's older sister?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"That's me," Thalia said, eying Piper, "I'd shake your hand, but I don't want to get that personal with Jason second-hand."

"Thalia!" Jason exclaimed as Piper buried her face in Jason's shoulder.

Thalia just shrugged and looked at her phone. "Anyways, you should probably think about rejoining the game any time now, because otherwise the Eagles are going to lose, just saying. And what are you doing down here anyway? You've never let a head injury keep you down before," Thalia observed, picking up Piper's clothes from the floor.

Jason shifted his weight nervously and grabbed Piper's hand. "Just some issues that are now fixed, right Piper?"

"Absolutely," Piper said warmly, leaning up for another kiss.

"PDA! Save it for the bedroom, guys!" Thalia complained, pulling Piper away from Jason.

Piper laughed and let Thalia pull her out the door. "See you after the game, Sparky!"

"I will!" Jason yelled back, starting to put his gear back on.

Thalia opened one of the vacant rooms and threw Piper's clothes on the floor. She pushed Piper in there and shut the door, grumbling. "I never would've thought that my brother would be so inappropriate! Sex while there was a game to save…He freaking needs a lecture!"

Piper gratefully escaped Thalia's wrath and redressed herself, fixing her hair in the mirror in between clothing items. Deciding that her current state was fine, Piper straightened her shirt and opened the door to face Thalia again.

"Come on. I have a seat saved for you. Jason just left a few seconds ago, so we have to be quick if we want to see him join again," Thalia said, grasping Piper's upper arm as if she was going to escape and start making out with Jason again.

Piper nodded and pulled her pass over her neck so that she wouldn't be questioned as they walked out of the hall and into the thriving and screaming crowd. As Thalia pulled Piper through, she looked at the blaring scoreboard above the field: 32-21, with the Warriors close to making another touchdown. The Eagles would have to get two touchdowns to beat the Warriors in less than eight minutes. It could be done if they tried hard and pushed the opposing team back. They just needed Jason back.

"C'mon, Jason. Get out there!" Piper muttered under her breath, eying the field like a hawk for any sign of him.

"Sir, we've already gone through this, remember? I was leaving?" Thalia argued with a hefty security guard blocking the gate to the Special Admittance Box.

The guard examined Thalia's card. "I'll need to see another form of identification," he said lazily.

Thalia popped her knuckles. "Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"Ma'am, is that a threat?" the guard asked, crossing his arms.

"Depends on how you perceive it," Thalia responded dangerously.

Piper decided that now would be the time to intervene before things got out of hand and they got completely removed from the stadium. She nicely pointed to her own pass and smiled at the guard flirtatiously. "Sir, we have seats up in there that are reserved for us, and we really would like to see the game. Because, you know, I'm Jason Grace's girlfriend. And we wouldn't want him to be upset, would we?"

The guard turned a deep shade of red, and Thalia turned away laughing. "I-I suppose that w-wouldn't be g-good," the guard stuttered, moving aside and unlocking the gate. "Here you go, ladies."

"Thank you," Piper said silkily, this time being the one to pull Thalia away.

As soon as they were out of earshot and moving through the rows, Thalia verbally laughed out loud. "Oh my god! Did you see that guy's face? You've just been recruited as my sidekick whenever we go to these places!"

"Um, thanks?" Piper said questionably, turning back to Thalia. "Where are our seats? I have no idea where to go."

Thalia looked over the crowd. "Over there, at the top by Annabeth," she pointed, "Do you see now?"

Piper strained her eyes and spotted a head of blonde curly hair who was analyzing the game like a potential battlefield just a few seats up. Definitely Annabeth. "Yeah, I see."

At that, Piper hurried up the stairs, Thalia close behind. Shuffling down the row and past a few more people, Piper seated herself in the empty seat next to Annabeth. "Hey, what's up?"

"Not much, they're still losing. Any luck with your broth-" Annabeth turned to the side as Thalia passed her and sat on her opposite. "Piper? What the hell are you _doing _here?"

"I came to get Jason-"

"In bed!" Thalia interrupted, leaning over. "My eyes will never be the same! Do you know how disturbing it is to see your brother half naked and 'in the zone'?"

Annabeth shook her head and closed her eyes in disgust. "Stop it! I don't even want that image in my head! Now focus on the game!"

Piper rolled her eyes, but her heart nearly stopped as the announcers went wild proclaiming the rejoining of Jason Grace. He was all dressed up in his blue uniform, and Piper could almost see him smile as he shook hands with Beckendorf and joined his teammates out on the field. The Eagle's fans broke out in cheers, and Piper yelled along with them.

Her adrenaline coursing through her body, Piper watched the game intensely as the Eagles slowly pushed the opposing team in their red uniforms back. They were almost there, with just a few minutes left on the clock.

Annabeth was on the edge of her seat. "Don't be stupid now, think, Percy, think!" she whispered under her breath as the whistles blew and the players took off.

Before Piper could even realize what had just happened, both Thalia and Annabeth flew up from their seats, and the scoreboard changed to 32-27. Piper joined in on the cheering, and the players assembled at the end as Nico Di Angelo got up to kick.

"Yeah! Go Nico!" Thalia yelled, then realized that Piper and Annabeth were giving her an odd look. "What?" she asked, blushing a little as she smoothly sat down again. "Just a little team spirit," she grumbled.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow but returned her gaze to the game as the clock started again and Nico successfully kicked the ball through the goal post. This time, all three of them cheered and jumped from their seats.

Piper looked at the scoreboard and the clock. They just needed one more touchdown, that was all. Just _one_ more, and they'd be leading. One problem though: 55 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Warriors had possession of the ball.

"I believe in you, Jason. Bring us all the way," Piper muttered under her breath as if he could hear her.

The players lined up and the excitement could be felt as the tension rose. Every second mattered. Then they were off, the Eagles trying their hardest for an interception as the crowd roared on. The energy was building as Percy intercepted a throw and took off running until-

"TIME OUT FOR THE SPARTA WARRIORS WITH 28 SECONDS ON THE CLOCK!" the announcer yelled.

Annabeth groaned and put her face in her hands. "What's wrong?" Piper asked over the referee's talking.

Annabeth pointed to the field. "Look, we've got forty yards to go until a touchdown, do you see?" Piper nodded. "Okay, and Percy probably would've gotten it, but the stupid coach called for his last remaining timeout, stopping the game and making them reform again," Annabeth said in a frustrated voice. "It's a brilliant idea on the Warriors part, I'll give them that, but seriously?"

Still confused but a little scared to ask for more explanation, Piper turned back to the game and watched as the teams set themselves back up on the field. Piper leaned over, anxious not to miss a thing, her eye on Jason's jersey.

The time started and the players went on fiercely. Piper wanted to close her eyes but she was too riveted to the game. Percy threw the ball as he got tackled and Annabeth cursed. Piper didn't pay too much attention to it, she was more focused on where the ball was going as the clock painfully ticked down.

The ball flew through the air and into the yellow painted end zone, right into the arms of Jason as the timer buzzed loud into the stadium.

The crowd seemed unsure of who the winner was, and if they should cheer or not. Annabeth seemed to be trying to replay the scene in her head, and Thalia was arguing with whoever would dare say the Warriors obviously won. Piper however, was just unsure of what to do.

One question was hovering over everybody as the referees debated on the field: Did Jason catch the ball before the timer rang out or after?

* * *

**I'm still alive, no worries! Thank you for all of everything! I'd love to give a shout out to every one of you, but I don't have time or space and I think life has a crush on me lately! Shhh, I wasn't supposed to tell!**

**Do I seriously have to do a disclaimer? Didn't think so...just kidding! I disclaim everything!**


	18. The Wrong Team

"Oh my god, will they just hurry up and say that the Eagles won? It's not that hard, seriously," Thalia complained, turning back from her latest argument.

Piper just sighed in response and started to make her way down the bleachers, completely abandoning her friends. No matter if the Eagles won or lost, Piper was going to be down there with Jason and nobody was going to stop her. Apparently, other people were getting the idea of trying to flood the field too, because the bleachers were getting more and more crowded as she fought for her way down.

"Hey! Wait up, Piper!" Annabeth called, jumping over the green seats after her.

Piper stopped for a second in the middle of an aisle, earning a few curses aimed towards her from fans. "Where's Thalia?" she asked as Annabeth got closer.

Annabeth glanced over her shoulder and towards the press box. "I think she said something about having a 'talk' with them. I don't think that'll go over too well, but it _is_ Thalia I'm talking about," Annabeth said, shrugging and forcing her way down alongside Piper.

"You don't think we should go get her, do you?" Piper asked, pushing past a rather large lady in a red and black Warriors shirt.

"No, Thalia can handle herself…I hope," Annabeth responded over some protestant yelling.

They approached the railing and Piper jumped over it and into the sidelines with Annabeth not far behind. She ran through the herds of reporters and the occasional football player being drilled, a blonde head with the name _Grace_ emblazoned on the back of his jersey. Piper heard her name being called a few times, but she didn't care. "Jason!" she called out.

Jason didn't turn around at his name which was totally understood as forty million reporters were trying to swarm him as he tried to walk away. Piper ducked underneath a camera and grabbed Jason's hand.

"Hey!" he yelled as he pulled it away and looked to the doer. When he found Piper's face, his own softened and he slipped his hand back into hers. "Sorry, Pipes," he said warmly.

Piper shrugged and leaned into his chest. "It's okay. You can never be too careful."

The media was going wild and pressing in with annoying questions, but they were ignored and so were the cameras as Jason dropped his helmet and pulled Piper in for another amazing kiss. Piper could've stayed like this forever, but Percy grabbed Jason's shoulder and interrupted them.

"I'm going to do it right now!" Percy said excitedly with Annabeth trailing close behind.

Piper shared a confused look with Jason. "Do what?" Jason asked, looking at his friend oddly.

Percy rolled his eyes. "And Annabeth calls me the slow one. Hey! Di Angelo!" he called out to the kicker Piper recognized from earlier. Nico, that's what Thalia had called him.

The black haired, pale skinned young man turned around from the paparazzi with a small jewelry box in his hand. "I got it! Just remember my soda!" he warned, handing it over to Percy.

Annabeth approached him with a look of irritation. "Did you seriously have to leave me behind to fend for myself? I mean-" she stopped in mid-sentence as Percy interrupted her with a yell.

"Annabeth!" he said, grabbing her hand, "It doesn't matter whether we won or the Warriors did, because it doesn't change how I feel about you," he continued on.

The media really picked up on what was going on, and as far as Piper could tell, so had Annabeth by the look on her face. "So, uh, how do you feel about being Mrs. Annabeth Jackson?" Percy finished.

It was obvious that Annabeth was on the brink of face-palming. But instead, she leaned forward and gave him a kiss. Then she did the most romantic response that Piper had ever seen: she judo flipped him.

Piper jumped back into a reported as she gasped. "Annabeth!"

The rest of the team however, though it was hilarious. Piper had to slap Jason on the arm to get him to stop laughing. "Coach told you to practice those moves, didn't he?" one player called out jokingly.

Percy pulled himself up as Annabeth stepped back and crossed her arms. "At least she can make me hit the ground harder than you can, Dakota! Who needs to practice more now?" he responded back with a smile. Percy turned back to Annabeth. "So, is that a yes?"

"You're such a Seaweed Brain, but of course it's a yes!" Annabeth said, her eyes shining with happiness as she pulled Percy in for another kiss.

Piper jumped up and screamed, clapping her hands. Apparently, this was the cue for everyone else that it was okay, and soon the whole team was yelling and screaming like they had won. It was so loud that the Warriors were looking over in curiosity like they had missed something.

Then the speaker rang out, and the field went dead silent.

"With careful studying and watching and re-watching the tapes, the referees have come to a decision," the announcer paused and everyone waited in anticipation. Piper felt like her heart was going to break through her chest.

Thankfully, the announcer continued. "Without further ado, the winners of the 2013 Game of Champions are…THE SPARTA WARRIORS!"

The crowd broke into cheers and boos as confetti flew from the top of the stadium and flooded over everyone. Piper looked over to Jason, and seen that he was just as stunned and heartbroken as she was. Piper grabbed him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I don't understand. I could've sworn that…" Jason trailed off, mumbling to himself.

Piper leaned her head against his chest. "It's okay. It's just a game and hey, at least you made it this far, right?"

Jason didn't respond as the speakers made a shuffling sound and a familiar feminine voice took over the announcements. "Whoa guys, calm down! The stupid announcer over here-"

"How did you get up here? Get out or I'll call security!" the real announcer said.

Jason squinted at the press box. "What is Thalia doing?" he muttered.

"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Thalia argued, taking the microphone back. "Anyways, Announcer Man is wrong-"

"Look, girl. I'm not wrong so get out of my box!"

The speakers made a screeching noise. "Are you blind? Read the result sheet, and then tell me which team is out there celebrating!"

Everything was quiet once again, and Piper looked up at Jason in confusion. "Does this mean that-"

"Ladies and gentlemen! I, Thalia Grace, am here to tell you the _real _results of the game because this guy apparently failed first grade and never learned how to read. The actual winners of the 2013 Game of Champions are…The Tiber Eagles!" Thalia said loudly so that it rang across the field.

At this, the reporters really went wild. Piper was enveloped by another amazing kiss by Jason, and they completely ignored every question until they were literally torn apart by the reporters and teammates running past.

Piper blushed and gripped Jason's hand lightly, bracing themselves for the paparazzi as the first group surrounded them. She held herself up with pride, all the bad things in the past. She answered every question, stinging with hurt or not, with grace.

"Jason Grace, what is it like to be the one to make the winning point and how do you feel about it?" a dark haired woman asked, holding her microphone out with a smile.

Jason pulled Piper a little closer and showed her to the woman. "I couldn't have made that point without this amazing girl in my life, it just wouldn't have happened. So in a sense, I didn't even make that point."

The reporter nodded and motioned for him to go on. "The person who made us win this game is right here. My girlfriend, Piper McLean, who is the strongest, most beautiful woman I know, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

Jason nervously straightened his hair in the rear-view mirror, knowing that Piper was waiting for him at her house as he waited for the light to turn red.

While Percy was having a victory party over at Jason's house, he had slipped out just as they had planned. Sometimes, partying wasn't all there was to life. And really, when there were certain things to be done, there was no time for partying and drinking the night away.

Tonight, Jason and Piper were going to lay their child to rest. On the ride home, they had discussed what their plans were for the night, and Piper had mentioned something about when they were going to bury the baby. So Jason had insisted that they do it tonight. He knew how much it tormented her to have that box just sitting out, unlaid to rest. And in reality, Jason was sure it would help him too.

The light turned green across the vacant street and Jason hit the gas. It was late, nearly after midnight. Jason didn't mind though. Things like this just couldn't be avoided, it didn't matter what time of day or night it was. Besides, Jason would rather spend his night doing this than getting drunk.

Jason drove with blank thoughts the rest of the way to Piper's, over the miles and miles of dirt roads until finally pulling into her driveway. Thankfully, the snow had been plowed out from the unfortunate blizzard. Jason got out of his car and walked leisurely into the grand farmhouse.

Inside, he found Piper staring emotionlessly at the wall, lost in thought as she sat on the couch, stroking the box in her lap lovingly. Jason sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Are you ready?" he asked gently.

Piper nodded slowly. "Y-Yes. I think so. I just need to get my coat," she replied, shakily trying to get up and almost dropping the box in the process.

Jason caught her and set her back on the couch. "I'll get it. Just stay here, okay?"

She nodded and looked down to the box as Jason left for the coat closet by the door. He opened the wide, deeply and intricately engraved doors and searched inside for her familiar silver snow jacket. He grabbed her keys off the hook and went through the hall and into the living room again.

Piper gave a small smile as Jason carefully helped her put her coat on so that he didn't accidentally hurt any of the left over bandages that she had on, something he hadn't paid much attention to in the locker room. Jason felt guilty for that, but Piper hadn't said anything to make him realize it.

When they finished, Jason held her as they got off the couch and walked through the door to Piper's red pickup. Without even asking, he sat her in the passenger seat and handed her a blanket. Jason fumbled with the keys until he found the right one and then started driving down the plowed out path that had been created when she had had the grave dug.

"They'll come after we're done and finish packing in the grave," Piper said, breaking the silence.

Jason had to think about what she was talking about. Then he realized that she was talking about the people she had dig the grave originally. "They won't mind coming out here this late?"

"No, they'd do anything for me. I take care of their horses and they take care of…other business," she finished quietly.

Jason didn't respond and just let the silence fill in again for the next few minutes. Upon seeing the marker place, Jason put the truck in park but let it keep running so that they had some light while they said good-bye.

Piper got out before Jason could help and walked straight to the deep hole. Jason caught up with her and helped her as she softly laid the box clear down to the bottom. He pulled her back up and they began to shovel a few clumps of hard dirt into it. After they had gotten as much as they could, they held hands and stood in front of the blaring headlights.

"Sometimes, we live for a long time. But others, our lives are cut so short that it's unfair," Piper began, kneeling on the dirt. "And I want to blame myself, the world, and everything for the fact that you were one of those whose lives were unfairly cut short. Your father won't let me blame myself, I guess that's just one of the ways that he's wonderful. And if you were here, you wouldn't either because you're his child. I won't ever forget you. I guess the gods or whoever out there that sees our lives used you to bring your father and I together. But it was for a price. Don't get me wrong, I love your father and I'd do anything for him, anything in the world, but it was just so god-damn-unfair," Piper choked, "that you had to leave!"

During her speech, Jason had dropped down beside her and rocked her as she spoke for comfort. It was his turn. "I hated you, at first. You ruined everything I had and brought an annoying, aggravating woman into my life n the process. I didn't want you…I wanted you to be gone forever. But then, as time went on, things changed. I started to think different about the world, your mother, and most importantly you. I like to think that where you are is better. I imagine you flying with the angels, having it better there than you are down here. You look just like your mother, which is to say beautiful. I know that you got those kaleidoscopic eyes that are never the same color and could keep people enticed for days. So keep flying. Fly with the angels, my child."

After that, they simply sat there, soaking in everything they said and didn't say, imagining it transferring into heaven. Slowly, Piper got up and sat in the truck and Jason followed her, getting into the driver's seat and driving back home.

Once they were back into the old-new farmhouse, Jason carried Piper up they stairs and laid her on the bed. He shut off the light and went to go sleep on the couch when Piper called out.

"Jason?" she asked.

Jason turned around and searched for her face in the dark. "Yes? Do you need anything?"

"I do. I need you," she pleaded.

He wasn't going to argue. Because, thinking on it, Jason needed her too. He would never be able to sleep all alone on the couch downstairs. "Okay. I'll stay with you," he agreed, walking across the room and slipping into the covers beside her.

They laid there holding each other for a few moments before Piper shifted closer and started to kiss him while attempting to pull off his shirt. Jason carefully tried to push back. Not that Jason didn't like it, he was just a little hesitant. "Piper?"

Piper leaned into his ear and continued pulling off his shirt and hers at the same time. "Let's make love as actually lovers for once."

* * *

**And there is Chapter 18 for you! One last chapter and then...the end! As always, thanks for the patience as I experience how hectic my life is, reviews, favorites, and follows!**

**I wouldn't be here without you! Love you!**


	19. Dinner And A Surprise

**2 Months Later**

"That was one hell of a wedding, wasn't it?" Jason asked, walking with Piper up to the house as they carried the large grocery sacks up to the porch.

The wedding had been last night, but by the time they had gotten home they had been too tired to even talk about it. Then, the next morning, Piper had gone grocery shopping for the week and made sure that Percy and Annabeth didn't miss their bus to the port since Percy refused to take an airplane to get to the cruise ship, where they had chosen to take their honeymoon.

Piper nodded and adjusted the handle on her shoulder. "It was beautiful. I didn't think that the weather could be so nice and sunny in April, but it apparently approved of their marriage. I bet they will have so much fun on their worldwide cruise. Annabeth will love the architecture. Just think of how many pictures she'll bring back!"

Jason laughed but stopped her as they approached the doors. "Don't go inside yet. Just lay your bags here, I'll get them. Go around the back emergency exit and straight to our room, okay?" he instructed.

"Okay?" Piper said unsurely, putting her bags on the porch and slowly stepping off.

"Not that you aren't amazing looking right now, because you are, put nice clothes on, alright?" Jason requested.

Piper's eyes lit up like she had just figured out what was going on and she ran to the side of the house. Jason chuckled and brought the bags into the kitchen and sat them on the counter.

Piper thought that he was taking her out to dinner, which was wrong but what he wanted her to think. In reality, Jason had spent all afternoon preparing her dinner just like she had taught him, he even correctly set the table.

He put the grocery items away and threw the sack in the cupboard, where Piper reused them for garbage bags. He then hurried into the downstairs bathroom and changed into his hidden nice clothes as fast as he could and quickly smoothed down his hair.

Jason quietly walked up the curved, elegant wood stairs and waited by their bedroom door. After things had calmed down, Jason had moved in with Piper and gave his own penthouse to Reyna as a birthday gift. He was glad that Reyna lived there now, it was much better than her old crowded apartment. Besides, from what Jason could tell she really enjoyed living there. According to Piper it had something to do with the owner, doorman, and fix-it guy of Bunker 9...

The bedroom door slowly opened and Piper emerged, wearing a simple light blue dress that emphasized the blue in her colorful eyes. Upon seeing Jason waiting, she slightly jumped back and put her hand to her chest. "God, Jason! You scared me!"

"You look stunning, Piper. You're so beautiful," Jason complimented, taking her arm and leading her down the wooden stairs.

Piper smiled and slid her hand down the rail along her bare side. "So, where are we going? I left the keys in my jean pockets upstairs, so I hope you have yours," she said.

"They won't be needed," Jason responded as they went down the last step.

"What do you…" Piper trailed off as they turned the corner into the dining room. "Oh, Jason," she said breathlessly.

Jason took her hand and led her to her seat. The table was set with the same grey and silver pearl lined porcelain plates that he had first used, but he used the alternate goblets instead of the modest glasses this time. He uncovered the dishes to reveal homemade spaghetti and sauce without meatballs, since Jason had remembered that Piper was vegetarian.

Jason seated himself down and gestured to everything. "So, how did I do?"

Piper laughed and went to unwrap her silverware. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect!" Jason waited in anticipation as she picked up her fork and gasped. "Jason, is this-"

"Will you marry me, Piper?"

She blushed when she realized what this was all about and she easily slipped the simple blue stoned ring on her finger. "Yes! I wouldn't have it any other way."

And then it happened so quickly that they didn't have time to hardly think and they were out of their chairs and making out, slowly making their way back up the stairs while keeping up a conversation between breaths, the food forgotten.

"I love you," Jason said as Piper left her heels on the steps in front of the room.

Piper pulled off his shirt and they made their way into the bedroom. "I love you more."

"When are we going to get married?"

"How about late July?"

"Honeymoon?"

"Anywhere as long as you're there."

"Kids? Not until later, probably."

Piper pulled away at that question. They were now on the bed with barely anything on, and Piper was looking at Jason sheepishly. She picked up his hand and laid it on her stomach. Jason realized that she had a tiny, very unnoticeable bump. He looked over to her in awe.

"Jason, I'm _already_ pregnant."

* * *

**And ****there you have it: the tragic epilogue. I am extremely sad to see this story go, but I'm excited for the new so it's a win-win, I suppose! If you want to see what they are, they should be the first two on my profile!**

**Anyways, I would love to give a silent internet round of applause to all of you who supported this story, whether you were here the whole time or just recently started! I wouldn't be here without you!**


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